FIRST SERVE
The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team will continue Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this Tuesday on the road with a contest versus The University of Sioux Falls. The match will be played in the Stewart Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., with first serve held at 7 p.m.
LAST WEEK'S RECAP
Southwest Minnesota State opened up its 20-match Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schedule this past week with wins by handing a pair of undefeated teams losses. SMSU defeated Augustana on Thursday night and followed up that performance with a 3-1 defeat of No. 7 Wayne State on Saturday.
The Mustangs (7-3, were led by
McKell Anderson, who recorded career-high tying 18 kills and a career-high 20 digs, while
Abbey Thissen added 14 kills.
Rachel Westby led the SMSU defense tying a career-high with 28 digs with
Emilee Gutzmer finishing with 50 assists to help pace the offense. The Mustangs finished the night hitting .181 (59-26-182), while limiting the Vikings to a .158 (42-16-165) hitting percentage.
SMSU has now won 14 straight over Augustana, with the Vikings' last victory coming on Sept. 21, 2004. Prior to SMSU's current winning streak in the series, Augustana had won 25 straight over SMSU from 1987 to 2004.
On Saturday, SMSU handed a loss to another unbeaten team, this time the No. 7 ranked Wayne State College Wildcats – a team that came into the match with just three set losses. The Mustangs defeated the Wildcats in four sets by scores of 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18.
Abbey Thissen paced the Mustangs with match-high 21 kills, while hitting .333 on 42 attack attempts.
Whitney Burmeister collected 13 kills and finished with a career-high 25 digs, while
McKell Anderson also recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs.
Rachel Westby also reached double figures in digs with 16.
SMSU finished the match hitting .265 (61-21-151) with six service aces, 70 digs and nine total blocks. WSC hit .238 as a team (54-18-151), but committed 13 service errors and had no service aces.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
The University of Sioux Falls is off to a quick start in 2013 as the Cougars hold a record of 8-2 overall and 1-1 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. USF is a perfect 5-0 at home and will look to defeat Southwest Minnesota State for the first time in program history. The Cougars are coming off a five-set match win over Augustana at the Stewart Center. Emily Johnson, a junior outside hitter that has 131 kills through 10 matches, will lead the USF attack. As a unit, USF holds a .277 attack percentage and is holding opponents to a hitting percentage of .187.
SERIES HISTORY
Southwest Minnesota State and The University of Sioux Falls began its series during the 1981 season and since then have only played four matches. SMSU has yet to lose a match versus Sioux Falls, having swept all four matches. The two teams will face-off more regularly after the Cougars pushed the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference to a 16-team league last season. SMSU and USF squared off twice last season in NSIC matches, with the Mustangs taking each match in straight sets. SMSU is 2-0 versus USF under 10th year head coach
Terry Culhane.
