“The girls had a mission to make a statement this weekend. I don't know that we've ever swept two teams in a weekend and I don't know that we've ever beaten both Dakotas in a weekend either,” head coach April Hall said. “We've had kind of a long, drawn out weekend so we were a little nervous about how we were going to come out and play today, but I feel like they fought through some adversity and really just finished strong and finished well.”

The Bison started off strong in the opening set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and forcing Western to call a timeout. Following the timeout the Leathernecks regained composure and eventually evened the match up at 8-8. Western then took the lead after a Heather Smith kill and would not relinquish it, winning the set 25-20.

The Leathernecks took set two in convincing fashion, 25-15, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Five separate Leathernecks posted at least two kills in the set, while Sarah Fetter and Molly Murphy each notched five digs apiece for Western.

The final set saw seven tie scores and two lead changes as the Leathernecks closed out the match with a 25-20 set win. Samantha Fournier posted six kills in the set to lead the Leathernecks to the match sweep.

Fournier led Western with 12 kills in the match, while Jordan Jackson and Smith each recorded nine kills apiece for the Leathernecks.

Fetter assisted on 30 kills for Western in the match, giving her 2,888 for her career. The senior is 53 assists away from moving into fourth-place on the career list.

Defensively, Murphy finished with 18 digs, while Fetter added 15. Melanie Miller also posted a team-best two solo-blocks for Western.

Western is now 9-11 overall and 3-2 in league play following the weekend sweep. The Bison fall to 1-17 on the year and 1-4 in conference play.

It marks the first time that the Leathernecks have swept back-to-back conference opponents since 2007.

“It's a big confidence booster for us. We know how hard of a trip USD and Denver is going to be,” said Hall. “They're the top two teams in the conference right now and they're tough. They're kind of like us, they're very fast, very up-tempo, and I think it'll be good to play a team like us and see how we do. These two wins were a great confidence booster for us going into practice on Tuesday, and then we'll just push ahead this weekend.”

The Leathernecks hit the road again next weekend for conference matches against South Dakota on Friday (Oct. 18) and Denver on Sunday (Oct. 20).