THE FIRST SERVE 
The No. 3 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team will continue Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action as it looks to continue it's success after defeating starting conference play 2-1 last week. The Mustangs will face a No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul on Friday night for a top-10 showdown at 7 p.m before playing Minnesota State on Saturday at 3 p.m. Friday night's match against CSP, the volleyball team is inviting fans to wear white for a "white out" match.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL—CSP will enter the contest with a 7-3 overall record. The Golden Bears defeated Minnesota State last Tuesday in its first conference-road match. Concordia started the season suffering a pair of losses to No. 15 Palm Beach Atlantic (Fla.) and No. 13 Ferris State before dropping it's first NSIC match to Winona State. Anna Schlaak leads the Golden Bears with 140 killsso far this season while hitting .272. Taylor Dordan leads the defense with 152 and a 4.61 dig/set average
 
MINNESOTA STATE—Minnesota State will enter the weekend with a 8-3 record and will face Sioux Falls on Friday night. The Mavericks suffered their first conference loss to No. 8 Concordia-St. Paul last Tuesday. The other loss comes from Lewis (Ill.) in the Flyer Festival. No. 11 Krista Hassing leads the offense with 193 kills so far this season while hitting .328. Ellie Van De Steeq leads the defense with 454 digs and an 11.07 dig/set average.

SERIES HISTORY
CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL—Southwest Minnesota State will meet with Concordia-St. Paul for the 52nd time in program history on Friday night with CSP holding a 28-23 advantage in a series that started back in the 1976 season. The Golden Bears hold a 11-9 advantage in matches played in the PE Gym with the Mustangs last win in Marshall coming back in 2010. The Mustangs defeated the Golden Bears last season in the Central Region semifinal match in Duluth, Minn., for the first time since 2012 and in the process snapped Concordia's seven consecutive championship streak.

MINNESOTA STATE—SMSU will face Minnesota State for the 53rd time in program history on Saturday afternoon with the Mavericks holding a 31-21 advantage in a series that started back in 1971. The Mustangs are 9-1 in the last 10 contests, with SMSU suffering a 3-1 loss in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference playoff first-round match last season in Marshall. The series is tied 13-13 in matches played in Marshall.

RECAP: LAST WEEK
Last week SMSU opened Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action with a win to No. 25 Augustana, 3-1. SMSU then hosted No. 8 Wayne State in it's home opener and suffered a sweep for it's first home opener loss in it's last six seasons. The Mustangs traveled to the University of Sioux Falls last Tuesday and defeated the Cougars in straight sets.

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 295-83, including 167-40 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.

NEARING 300
Head coach Terry Culhane is nearing his 300th win in his 12th season as he has recorded 295 wins at SMSU and is only 13 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. Minnesota Duluth is No. 1, SMSU is No. 3 , Wayne State is No. 5, Central Missouri is No. 6, Washburn is No. 7 and Concordia-St. Paul is No. 8. 

AROUND THE NSIC
In the latest AVCA poll, there are eight of the 16 teams that are part of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference either in the top-25 poll or receiving votes. UMD (No. 1), SMSU (No. 3), WSC (No. 5), CSP (No. 8), NSU (No. 19), AUGIE (T-22), 
WSU (T-22) and MSU (RV).

HOME SWEET HOME
Since Terry Culhane took over as head coach at SMSU in 2004, the Mustangs have compiled a 102-24 record at the PE Gym. The Mustangs have won seven or more matches and have not lost more than four at home since the 2003 season.