THE FIRST SERVE: The No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will close out the regular season schedule this weekend with matches against Minnesota State and No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul. The Mustangs are riding a 14-match winning streak going into the final weekend and will face the Mavericks on Friday night at 7 p.m., before taking on the Golden Bears on Saturday at 3 p.m.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
MINNESOTA STATE-MSU will enter the final weekend with a 15-11 overall record and 9-9 in the NSIC. The Mavericks are on a three-match skid after losing its last three road matches to Bemidji State, No. 20 Augustana and No. 3 Wayne State. MSU is 1-9 this season against opponents ranked in the AVCA Top 25 Poll with its only upset coming on 10/3 against No. 19 Augustana. The Mavericks are 3-1 in matches that go the distance and 2-7 in straight-set matches.

CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL-CSP will enter the final weekend with a 22-4 overall record and 16-2 in the conference. Concordia-St. Paul will face Sioux Falls on Friday night before playing the Mustangs on Saturday. The Golden Bears will enter the weekend with an eight-match winning streak after sweeping five of their last eight opponents. CSP's last loss this season came from the hand of No. 6 Northern State on 10/16, which also broke an eight-match win streak. The Golden Bears have won 10 matches in straight sets and have never been swept so far this season. CSP has gone the distance in only two matches, with both being wins.

SERIES HISTORY
MINNESOTA STATE-Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Minnesota State for the 54th time in program history on Friday night with the Mavericks holding a 31-22 advantage in a series that started back in 1971. The Mustangs have won 10 of the last 11 contests with their last loss coming back in 2014. The last time SMSU suffered a loss in Mankato was in the 2009 season and have not been swept by the Mavericks since 1999. Since 1999, SMSU has lost just seven matches to MSU. SMSU swept MSU earlier this season on 9/26 in Marshall.

CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL-SMSU will face CSP for the 54th time in program history on Saturday afternoon with the Golden Bears holding a tight 29-23 advantage in a series that started back in 1976. The Mustangs started the series on a 19-match winning streak before suffering a 13-match losing streak. Since its last win in St. Paul in 2007, SMSU has won just once in the Gangelhoff Center coming back in 2012. The Mustangs knocked off the Golden Bears last season in the Central Region tournament to break a seven-year dynasty and snap a CSP 43 post-season match win streak. SMSU suffered a loss to No. 8 CSP on 9/25 earlier this season in Marshall.

LAST WEEK: Southwest Minnesota State volleyball closed Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference action the PE Gym and pushed its winning streak to 14 matches, as it faced No. 24 Winona State and Upper Iowa. The Mustangs dominated as they held their opponents to a combined .111 hitting percentage, while hitting .294 as a team. SMSU kept its series winning streaks alive against both teams as it defeated WSU for the 13th straight time and the UIU for the 20th straight.

TOUGH COMPETITION: Five of the top-10 teams and 11 of the top 25 in this week's AVCA poll are in the Central Region. Concordia-St. Paul (No. 1), SMSU (No. 2), Northern State (No. 3), Wayne State (Neb.) (T-No. 4), Minnesota Duluth (No. 9), Nebraska-Kearney (No. 12), Central Missouri (No. 13), Washburn (No. 14), Central Oklahoma (No. 15), Augustana (S.D.) (No. 20) and Winona State (No. 25).

AROUND THE NSIC: Seven of the 16 teams in the NSIC are in the top 25, including four of the top five in this week's poll. CSP (No. 1), SMSU (No. 2) NSU (No. 3), WSC (T-No. 4), UMD (No. 9), Augustana (S.D.) (No. 20) and WSU (No. 25).

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is No. 2 in the latest AVCA Poll and has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 for 130 consecutive weeks, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006 and in the top 10 for 34 straight weeks.

REGION RANKINGS: The Mustangs are ranked No. 2 in the first NCAA Division II Central Region ranking released on Nov. 4. SMSU is one of five NSIC school to appear in the regional rankings along with, CSP (No. 1), WSC (No. 3), NSU (No. 4) and UMD (No. 10). SMSU has a 2-2 record so far this season versus teams that are ranked in this week's NCAA Central Region.

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 309-84, including 181-41 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 on Nov. 7 he became the program-record holder all-time wins leader passing Deb Denbeck (1985-2002) after a sweep over Upper Iowa.

STREAKING: The Mustangs have recorded 14-straight wins so far this season. The last time SMSU had a longer streak was back in the 2012 season where it had a 19-match winning streak. SMSU has had seven seasons where they recorded 10 or more straight wins in head coach Terry Culhane tenure.

SPOTTING THE TRENDS: The Mustangs are 19-0 when an opponent hits under .200 and 15-0 when they win the first two sets. SMSU is 17-1 when it wins the first set and 24-1 when it has more kills than its opponents. Southwest Minnesota State is also 17-1 when it has more service aces and 13-0 when it has more blocks.