THE FIRST SERVE 
The No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will continue Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this weekend as it heads on it's first road trip of the season to Upper Iowa and Winona State. The Mustangs will face the Peacocks on Friday night with the first serve at 7 p.m., from the Dorman Gymnasium. SMSU will then head North on Saturday to Winona State for a 2 p.m., matinee with the Warriors.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
UPPER IOWA—UIU will enter the contest with a 7-7 overall record and 1-4 in the NSIC. The Peacocks lone conference win comes from a 3-1 win to Winona State last week. Jennifer Mundt leads the Peacocks with 224 kills so far this season while hitting .181. Taylor Williams leads the defense with 235 digs and a 4.61 dig/set average
 
WINONA STATE—WSU will enter the weekend with a 7-5 overall  record and 1-4 in the conference. The Warriors will face Sioux Falls on Friday night before playing the Mustangs on Saturday. The Warriors have suffered three-straight conference losses coming into the weekend with their lone win coming to Concordia-St. Paul in the first weekend of NSIC play. Taylor Goear leads the Warrior offense with 153 kills while hitting .219. Jamie Cairncross leads the defense with 178 digs anda 4.05 dig/set average.

SERIES HISTORY
UPPER IOWA—Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Upper Iowa for the 19th time in program history on Friday night with SMSU holding an undefeated 18-0 record in a series that started back in the 2004 season. The Mustangs hold a 8-0 advantage in matches played in the Dorman Gymnasium. SMSU has given up just four sets in the 18 contests and have swept the Peacocks in 14 of those contests. 

WINONA STATE—SMSU will face Winona State for the 92nd time in program history on Saturday afternoon with the Mustangs holding a 61-29-1 advantage in a series that started back in 1974. The Mustangs have taken the last 10 contests and 26 of the last 27 with their last loss coming back in 2007 in Marshall. The last time SMSU lost in Winona was in 1998. The Mustangs have only given up six sets in the last 10 matches as they have swept the Warriors seven times—including the last four.

RECAP: LAST WEEK
Southwest Minnesota State volleyball continued Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference action facing No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State last weekend. The Mustangs suffered a 3-1 loss to the Golden Bears but found the win column on Saturday defeating the Mavericks 3-0.

HEAD COACH
Terry Culhane is in his 12th season at the helm of the Mustang volleyball team. During his tenure Culhane has directed the Mustangs to an overall record of 296-84, including 168-41 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. Culhane has 11-consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, including seven appearances in the region semifinals and two region championship appearances along with the program's first ever national championship appearance in 2014.

NEARING 300
Head coach Terry Culhane is nearing his 300th win in his 12th season as he has recorded 296 wins at SMSU and is only 12 wins behind program-record holder Deb Denbeck (1985-2002) who has tallied 308 wins in 17 seasons.

TOUGH COMPETITION
Four of the top-10 teams and 11 of the top 25 in this week's AVCA poll are in the Central Region. Minnesota Duluth (No. 1), Concordia-St. Paul (No. 3), SMSU (No. 5) and Northern State (No. 9).

AROUND THE NSIC
Eight of the 16 teams in the NSIC are in the top-25 or receiving votes in this week's AVCA poll. Minnesota Duluth (No. 1), Concordia-St. Paul (No. 2), SMSU (No. 5), Northern State (No. 9), Wayne State (No. 11), Augustana (No. 19), Winona State (No. 25) and Minnesota State (RV).