THE FIRST SERVE The No. 5 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will continue Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this weekend as it hosts MSU Moorhead and No. 2 Northern State. The Mustangs will face the Dragons on Friday night at 7 p.m., before taking on the undefeated Wolves on Saturday at 3 p.m.
OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
MSU MOORHEAD—MSUM will enter the contest with a 12-8 overall record and 5-7 in the NSIC. The Dragons suffered a loss in their last two matches as they were swept by No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul before putting up a battle with No. 2 Northern State sending the match to five sets last Tuesday. MSUM is the only team to play five sets with NSU this season.
NORTHERN STATE—NSU will enter the weekend with a 20-0 overall record and 12-0 in the conference. Northern State will face Sioux Falls on Friday night before playing the Mustangs on Saturday. The Wolves are leading the NSIC handedly as they have a two-loss lead on the second place teams. NSU is undefeated and have 15 matches that it swept its opponent while giving up just seven total sets this season. The Wolves have defeated pair of No. 1 ranked teams as they swept Minnesota Duluth and upset Concordia-St. Paul, 3-1. NSU leads the NSIC in nearly every category including: hitting % (.342), opponent hitting % (.130), assists/set (14.15) and kill/set (14.82).
SERIES HISTORY
MSU MOORHEAD—Southwest Minnesota State will meet with MSUM for the 105th time in program history on Friday night with the Mustangs holding a 58-46 advantage in a series that started back in 1975. The Mustangs have won the last 13 matches with their last loss coming in 2006 in Marshall. In the last 20 matches, the Mustangs have dropped just two matches with 16 sets given up, but have swept the Dragons nine time in those matches.
NORTHERN STATE—SMSU will face Northern State for the 63rd time in program history on Saturday afternoon with the Mustangs holding a 53-9 advantage in a series that started back in 1978. The Mustangs have taken the last 20 contests with their last home and away loss coming back in 2002. In the last 20 matches, the Mustangs have loss just eight sets and have swept the Wolves 13 times in those matches.
LAST WEEK: Southwest Minnesota State volleyball continued Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference action on the road facing Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. The Mustangs dominate both opponents as they swept both while averaging a .382 hitting percentage over the weekend while holding their opponents to a -.023 percentage. SMSU hosted Sioux Falls on Tuesday and battled to a 3-1 win over the Cougars to push its winning streak to eight matches.
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 303-84, including 175-41 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.
CULHANE WINS NO. 300: SMSU head coach
Terry Culhane captured his 300th career win in a sweep against St. Cloud State on Oct. 10. Culhane entered the season with 286 career wins in 11 years as head coach at SMSU and is now only five wins behind program-record holder Deb Denbeck (1985-2002) who has tallied 308 wins in 17 seasons.
TOUGH COMPETITION: Six of the top-10 teams and 11 of the top 25 in this week's AVCA poll are in the Central Region. Northern State (No.2), Concordia-St. Paul (No.4), SMSU (No.5), Wayne State (No.T6), Minnesota Duluth (No. 8), Central Oklahoma (No.10), Central Missouri (No.12), Washburn (No.14), Nebraska-Kearney (No.16), Augustana (No.21), Winona State (No.25).
AROUND THE NSIC: Seven of the 16 teams in the NSIC are in the top-25 in this week's AVCA poll. NSU (No. 2) CSP (No. 4), SMSU (No. 5), WSC (No.6), UMD (No. 8), Augustana (No. 21) and WSU (No. 25).
