THE FIRST SERVE: The No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will look to continue it's success in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this weekend as it travels to Minot State and the University of Mary. The Mustangs are riding a 10-match winning streak and will face the Beavers on Friday night at 7 p.m., before taking on the Marauders at 6 p.m., on Saturday.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
MINOT STATE—MISU will enter the contest with a 3-18 overall record and 0-14 in the NSIC. The Beavers are struggling as they are on a 17 match skid. Minot State's wins come from the beginning of the season at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanook Classic against Alaska Fairbanks and Saint Joseph's College. MISU's last win was from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in the Upper Iowa Tournament. The Beavers have been swept 13 times while winning just 16 sets this season.

 U-MARY—MARY will enter the weekend with a 9-14 overall record and 4-10 in the conference. U-Mary will face Sioux Falls on Friday night before playing the Mustangs on Saturday. The Marauders snapped a six-match skid last weekend with a win over Minot State. MARY has suffered a loss in it last two matches with defeats coming form Wayne State and Augustana last weekend. The Marauders have been swept 10 times this season, all coming from NSIC opponents.

SERIES HISTORY
MINOT STATE—Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Minot State for just the fifth time in program history on Friday night with the Mustangs holding a perfect 4-0 advantage in a new series that started back in 2012. The Mustangs have won every match while not giving up a set. SMSU is 1-0 while playing in Minot and 3-0 at home.

U-MARY—SMSU will face U-Mary for the 15th time in program history on Saturday afternoon with the Mustangs holding a perfect 14-0 advantage in a series that started back in 2006. The Mustangs have taken every match and have not lost a set. SMSU is 5-0 while playing in Bismarck and 8-0 at home.

LAST WEEK: Southwest Minnesota State volleyball continued Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference action hosting MSU Moorhead and No. 2 Northern State. The Mustangs battled both squads to five sets and came out with a pair of victories. The win over No. 2 Northern State marked the Mustangs 10th straight win of the season and the 21st consecutive time over NSU. The win also was the sixth time SMSU defeated a team that was ranked in the AVCA.

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 305-84, including 177-41 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 three 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. 3), SMSU (No. 4), Wayne State (No. 6), Minnesota Duluth (No. 9), Washburn (No. 10), Central Oklahoma (No. 12), Nebraska-Kearney (No. 13), Central Missouri (No. 15), Augustana (No. 20), Winona State (No. 24) and Minnesota State (RV).

AROUND THE NSIC: Eight of the 16 teams in the NSIC are in the top-25 or receiving votes in the week's AVCA poll. NSU (No.2), CSP (No. 3), SMSU (No.4), WSC (No.6), UMD (No.9), Augustana (No.20), WSU (No. 24) and MSU (RV).

SPOTTING THE TRENDS: The Mustangs are 15-0 when an opponent hits under .200 and 12-0 when they win the first two sets. SMSU is 14-1 when it wins the first set and 20-1 when it has more kills than its opponents. Southwest Minnesota State is also 13-1 when it has more service aces and 11-0 when it has more blocks.

NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After Reiss earned her second NSIC Defensive Player of the Week after the Oct. 18-25 week, she also was named Sports Imports/AVCA Division II National Player of the Week. It marked the fourth time in school history that a Southwest Minnesota State player has earned the award, the last being Devin Diedrich in 2010.