THE FIRST SERVE
The Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team returns to the PE Gym to host Sioux Falls in a mid-week Northern Intercollegiate Conference match on Tuesday. The Mustangs will look to put together a new winning streak as they saw their 11-match streak ended by No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday.
SCOUTING REPORT
SIOUX FALLS -- The Cougars are 12-8 overall and own a 4-7 record within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. USF took SMSU to the fifth set earlier this season by the Mustangs endured the scare to win their fifth straight over the Cougars. SMSU has never lost to USF in series history. The Cougars own the best serving teams as they are averaging 1.90 service aces per set. USF is led by Emily Johnson and her 263 kills (3.33 K/Set) on the season. The Cougars are coming off a 3-2 match win over Minnesota State on Saturday. Joel McCartney is in his third season at the helm of the volleyball program.
LAST WEEK'S RECAP
No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State went 1-1 this weekend with a sweep over Minnesota State on Friday before falling to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday in straight sets.
On Friday, SMSU swept its school record seventh straight opponent and extended its consecutive set winning streak to 22 with its 3-0 match victory over Minnesota State. The previous records were six consecutive sweeps and 19 consecutive set victories set by both the 2009 and 2012 squads. SMSU forced 20 MSU attack errors in the match and were only blocked three times – a season low.
SMSU was led by Anderson's 11 kills on 22 attacks (.364).
Claire Sames followed with nine kills and
Whitney Burmeister chipped in eight kills and 11 digs.
Sarah Parker finished with a career-high .545 hitting percentage (7-1-11).
Emilee Gutzmer put up 40 assists and setup SMSU to a .234 hitting percentage.
On Saturday, SMSU saw its 11-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul. The Golden Bears also ended SMSU's school record streaks of consecutive sweeps (7) and set victories (22). With the loss, SMSU drops to 15-4, 10-1 NSIC, while CU takes sole possession of first-place in the NSIC standings with its 19-1, 11-0 NSIC record.
The story of the match was sloppy play from the Mustangs as they finished the match with 22 attack errors and a .092 attack percentage.Â
Abbey Thissen led the way with 11 kills for SMSU and
Whitney Burmeister chipped in 12 digs. The Mustangs combined to hit just .092 (32-22-109), while the Golden Bears put together a .300 hitting percentage for the match (36-9-90).
THE HEAD COACH
Terry Culhane enters his 10th season at the helm of the Mustang volleyball team. During his tenure Culhane has directed the Mustangs to an overall record of 251-67, including 143-32 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. During that timespan, Culhane has directed SMSU to nine NCAA tournament appearances, including six appearances in the region semifinals and one championship appearance. He began the 2013 season among the winningest active coaches in NCAA Division II. In 2012, Culhane was named NSIC Coach of the Year for the third time in his career, he also captured his first career NSIC regular season title and NSIC Tournament title.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7
Southwest Minnesota State swept seven straight opponents and extend its consecutive set winning streak to 22 before seeing both streaks come to an end on Saturday at No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul. The record was 20 straight set victories and six straight sweeps set by both the 2009 and 2012 teams.
11
Southwest Minnesota State put together an 11-match winning streak before falling to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday. The streak was third longest in school history. The 2012 team set the school-record by winning 19 straight matches. The winning streak stretched from Sept. 15 to Nov. 9 and shattered the previous program record which was 12 set by the 2008 squad.
6
Southwest Minnesota State is currently ranked No. 6 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II?Top 25 Poll. It is the third consecutive week that the Mustangs have earned the No. 6 ranking.
30
The amount of wins that SMSU gathered last season -- the most by a Mustang volleyball team since joining the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and NCAA Division II in 1995.
31
Senior libero
Rachel Westby set a new career-high with 31 digs on Sept. 28 versus MSU Moorhead. It marks the fourth time this season that Westby has either tied or broken her previous career-high of 28.
100
The Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team earned its 100th consecutive appearance in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Top 25 Poll as the Mustangs idled at No. 6 for the third straight week in this week's edition of the poll. The Mustangs went 1-1 this weekend with a sweep over Minnesota State before falling to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul in straight sets.
250
Terry Culhane captured his 250th career victory on Oct. 12 versus Upper Iowa. In ten season Culhane owns a career record of 251-67. Culhane is approaching Jeri Madden's mark of 254 wins. Jeri Madden (1971-85), SMSU's first head coach in program history, finished her coaching career with an overall record of 254-204. Culhane has averaged just over 24 wins per season during his 10 years at the helm.
