THE FIRST SERVE: The No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will enter the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament on Wednesday as the No. 2 seed and will play host to No. 24 Augustana who received the No. 7 seed in the tournament. The quarterfinal match is set to start at 7 p.m., from the PE Gym. The winner will play on Saturday at 2 p.m., against an opponent TBD.
OPPONENT AT A GLANCE
AUGUSTANA-Augustana will enter the tournament with a 18-10 overall record and finished loop play with an 11-9 mark. The Vikings will competest in the NSIC Tournament for the first time since 2013 and have been part of three of the last four after missing it in 2013. The Vikings have never won a set in the NSIC Tournament and have never played the Mustangs in postseason play.
SERIES HISTORY
AUGUSTANA-Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Augustana for the 60th time in program history on Wednesday night with the Vikings holding a 30-28-1 record in a series that started back in the 1972 season. The Mustangs have won the last 16 of the last 17 matches with its last loss in the series coming a season ago in Marshall. SMSU faced Augustana, who was ranked No. 25 in the AVCA Poll, earlier this season and won 3-1 in Sioux Falls.
NSIC SELECTION: The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced that SMSU freshman
Taylor Reiss was named NSIC Freshman of the Year on Nov. 12. The Mustangs had four players named to the 2015 NSIC All-Conference team.
Abbey Thissen and
Taylor Reiss were named to the All-NSIC first team, while
Sarah Parker and
Megan Larson were named to the All-NSIC second team.
SMSU IN THE NSIC TOURNEY: Southwest Minnesota State has made the NSIC Tournament for the last 11 consecutive seasons, posting a 10-6 overall record in those matches. The last time the Mustangs won the NSIC Tournament was in 2012 where they defeated No. 24 Minnesota State, No. 5 Minnesota Duluth and No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul. Last season, SMSU was eliminated from the tournament after losing to No. 2 Minnesota Duluth in the second round of play.
LAST WEEK: Southwest Minnesota State volleyball closed Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference regular season action as it faced Minnesota State and No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul. The Mustangs won their 15th straight match of the season with a sweep over Minnesota State, but suffered a 3-1 loss to CSP on Saturday in the regular season finale and broke the streak.
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. 4), Minnesota Duluth (No. 7), Wayne State (Neb.)(No. 8), Nebraska-Kearney (No. 10), Central Missouri (No. 13), Central Oklahoma (No. 14), Washburn (No. 15), Winona State (No. 21) and Augustana (No. 24).
AROUND THE NSIC: Seven of the 16 teams in the NSIC are in the top 25, including three in the top five in this week's poll. Concordia-St. Paul (No. 1), SMSU (No. 2), Northern State (No. 4), Minnesota Duluth (No. 7), Wayne State (Neb.)(No. 8), Winona State (No. 21) and Augustana (No. 24).
NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is No. 2 in the latest AVCA Poll and has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 for 131 consecutive weeks, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006 and in the top 10 for 35 straight weeks.
REGION RANKINGS: The Mustangs are ranked No. 2 in the second NCAA Division II Central Region ranking released on Nov. 11. 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 2-3 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 310-85, including 182-42 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.
