THE FIRST SERVE: The No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will close out the regular season home schedule this weekend with matches against No. 24 Winona State and Upper Iowa. The Mustangs are riding a 12-match winning streak going into the weekend and will face the Warriors on Friday night at 7 p.m., before taking on the Peacocks on Saturday at 3 p.m. Visit smsumustangs.com for coverage information.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
WINONA STATE—WSU will enter the contest with a 15-8 overall record and 9-7 in the NCIS, while also ranked No. 24 in this week's AVCA Poll. The Warriors suffered a loss last week to Minnesota Duluth, which also snapped a five-match winning streak. 11 of WSU's wins have been by a sweep with only a pair of four-set matches.

UPPER IOWA—UIU will enter the weekend with a 14-11 overall record and 8-8 in the conference. Upper Iowa will face SIoux Falls on Friday night before playing the Mustangs on Saturday. The Peacocks were swept by Minnesota Duluth last weekend, after sneaking out a close 3-2 match against St. Cloud State on the road. UIU has been swept eight times this season while holding a 1-7 record against NSIC opponents ranked in the AVCA. The Peakcocks lone upset win comes against No. 22 Winona State in the first week of the NSIC schedule.

SERIES HISTORY
WINONA STATE—Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Winona State for just the 93rd time in program history on Friday night with the Mustangs holding a 62-29-1 advantage in a series that started back in 1974. The Mustangs have won the last 12 contests with their last loss coming back in 2007 and have swept the Warriors seven times in those matches. Since 1999, the Mustangs have lost just one match in Marshall. SMSU defeated WSU earlier this season, 3-1 in Winona.

UPPER IOWA—SMSU will face UIU for the 20th time in program history on Saturday afternoon with the Mustangs holding a perfect 19-0 advantage in a series that started back in 2004. The Mustangs have given up just four set—all in Fayeete—in the series and have never played a five-set match against the Peacocks. SMSU swept UIU earlier this season in Fayette.

LAST WEEK: Southwest Minnesota State volleyball continued Northern Sun intercollegiate Conference action facing Minot State and U-Mary. The Mustangs dominated both teams as they held their opponents to a .014 hitting percentage, while hitting .296 as a team. SMSU kept its perfect record against both teams as it defeated Minot State for the fifth straight time and the Marauders for the 15th straight.

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.Concordia-St. Paul (No. 1), SMSU (No. 2), Wayne State (Neb.) (No. 3), Northern State (No. 4), Washburn (No. 9), Minnesota Duluth (No. 10), Nebraska-Kearney (No. 12), Central Missouri (No. 13), Central Oklahoma (No. 15), Augustana (S.D.) (No. 20) and Winona State (No. 24).

AROUND THE NSIC: Seven of the 16 teams in NSIC are in the top-25, including four of the top five in this week's AVCA poll. CSP (No. 1), SMSU (No. 2), WSC (No. 3), NSU (No. 4), UMD (No. 10), Augustana (No. 20) and WSU (No. 24).

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is No. 2 in the latest AVCA Poll and has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 for 129 consecutive weeks, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006 and in the top 10 for 33 straight weeks.

REGION RANKINGS: The Mustangs are ranked No. 2 in the first NCAA Division II Central Region ranking released this week. 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 307-84, including 179-41 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 one win behind program-record holder Deb Denbeck (1985-2002) who has tallied 308 wins in 17 seasons.

STREAKING: The Mustangs have recorded 12-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 17-0 when an opponent hits under .200 and 13-0 when they win the first two sets. SMSU is 15-1 when it wins the first set and 22-1 when it has more kills than its opponents. Southwest Minnesota State is also 15-1 when it has more service aces and 12-0 when it has more blocks.