THE FIRST SERVE: The No. 4 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will enter its 12th consecutive NCAA tournament 25-5 overall as the team was selected as the No. 3 seed in the Central Region tournament. SMSU will face No. 6 seed Washburn in the first round on Thursday in St. Paul, Minn., starting at 12 p.m.

NCAA TOURNAMENT: The NSIC will send three teams to the NCAA Central Region volleyball tournament as Concordia-St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota State and Wayne State all advanced to postseason play. Concordia-St. Paul earned the top seed and will host Great American Conference (GAC) Tournament Champions Southwestern Oklahoma State.  On the other side of the bracket, SMSU earned the third seed and will take on the sixth seed of Washburn.  Wayne State is the seventh seed and will take on the second seed Central Missouri in the first round. 

Thursday, Dec. 3-Quarterfinals
(A) No. 3 SMSU vs. No. 6 Washburn | 12 p.m.
(B) No. 2 Central Missouri vs. No. 7 Wayne State | 2:30 p.m.
(C) No. 4 Central Oklahoma vs. No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney | 5:00 p.m.
(D) No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul vs. No. 8 Southwestern Oklahoma State | 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 4-Semifinals 
(E) Winner of A and B match | 5:00 p.m.
(F) Winner of C and D match | 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 5-Championship
Winner of E and F match | 7:00 p.m.

WASHBURN AT A GLANCE: No. 15 Washburn will enter its 12th consecutive NCAA tournament 28-5 overall as it was selected as the No. 6 seed. WU is 11-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, 6-6 in the opening round and 9-8 in neutral site matches. The Ichabods entered the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Associations (MIAA) Championships as the No. 4 seed and defeated Missouri Western 3-2 in the quarter finals, but suffered a 3-1 loss to No. 1 seed Central Oklahoma in the semifinals. Six Ichabods were named All-MIAA as Leanna Willer and Sarah Vicory were first team selections, while Taylor Selk, Liz Powell and Alyssa Carney were second team picks and Korie Thompson earned honorable mention honors. Willer is leading the team with a 4.03 kill per set average while hitting .201 and Vicory is second with a 2.82 kill set average while hitting at a .363 clip. Powell is WU's primary setter as she has averages 8.89 assists a set, while also leading in service aces with 25.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST WASHBURN: Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Washburn for the second time on Thursday. The two programs have met once prior to Thursday back in 2013 in the NCAA Tournament in Duluth, Minn., as SMSU defeated WU 3-2 in the opening round.

OTHER OPPONENTS HISTORY: SMSU ...  is 1-0 against Central Missouri after defeating CMU 3-0 back in 2011 ... is 23-27-1 against Wayne State College after suffering a 3-0 loss earlier this season ... is 0-1 against Central Oklahoma with a loss back in 2002 at the North Florida Classic ... is 2-6 against Nebraska-Kearney with its last win coming back in the 2014 Central Region Tournament ... is 23-30 against Concordia-St. Paul, while 10-16 in the Gangelhoff Center as it suffered a pair of losses earlier this season to the Golden Bears ... has never played  Southwestern Oklahoma State.

SMSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Southwest Minnesota State has an all-time record of 13-12 in its 12 previous NCAA tournament matches. Last season SMSU won the Central Region title for the first time ever and finished as national runners-up to the University of Tampa. SMSU has won five straight NCAA first round matches, defeating Colorado School of Mines (2010), MSU Denver (2011), Truman (2012), Washburn (2013) and Nebraska-Kearney (2014). SMSU is 8-4 all-time in NCAA tournament first round matches.

SMSU IN THE GANGELHOFF CENTER: Since 2004, Southwest Minnesota State is 35-25 all-time playing in the Gangelhoff Center. SMSU is 10-16 when playing Concordia-St. Paul and 25-9 when playing other opponents. SMSU holds a 3-6 record in the Gangelhoff Center in NCAA tournament matches.

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is No.4 in the latest AVCA Poll and has been ranked in the AVCA Top 25 for 132 consecutive polls, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006 and in the top 10 for 36 straight polls.

MUSTANGS RANKED NATIONALLY: Southwest Minnesota State is ranked 9th in the nation in assists per set with a 13.37 average, while ranked 13th in hitting percentage with a .264 mark and 14th in kills per set with a 14.14 average. Megan Larson ranks 12th in the nation in total assists as the sophomore has dished out 1,346 assists this season and 8th in assists per set with a 11.91 mark. Abbey Thissen is 53rd in the nation in total kills with 411 and points per set with 4.21.

REGION RANKINGS: SMSU is one of six NSIC schools to appear in the regional rankings along with, No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, No. 5 Wayne State, No. 8 Northern State, No. 9 Minnesota Duluth and No. 10 Winona State. The Mid-America Athletic Association (MIAA) has the remaining four teams ranked with, No. 3 Central Missouri, No. 4 Central Oklahoma, No. 6 Nebraska-Kearney and No. 7 Washburn.

TOUGH COMPETITION: Five of the top-10 teams and 11 of the top 25 in the AVCA poll are in the Central Region. Concordia-St. Paul (No. 1), Southwest Minnesota State (No. 4), Minnesota Duluth (No. 5), Northern State (No. 6), Central Missouri (No. 8), Wayne State (No. 11), Nebraska-Kearney (No. 12), Central Oklahoma (No. 14), Washburn (No. 15), Winona State (No. 17) and Augustana (No. 25).

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 311-86, including 182-43 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. Culhane has 12-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 with 309, passing Deb Denbeck (1985-2002) after a sweep over Upper Iowa.

STREAKING: The Mustangs had a 15-match win streak this season going into the final match of the regular season, but a 3-1 loss to Concordia-St. Paul broke the streak. The last time SMSU had a longer streak was back in the 2012 season when 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's tenure.