THE FIRST SERVE
The 3rd-ranked Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball team (14-3, 8-1 NSIC) opens a three-match road trip this Friday, taking on No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (16-1, 8-1 NSIC) starting at 7 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn. On Saturday, SMSU will face Minnesota State (9-8, 3-6 NSIC) with first serve at 4 p.m. at the Taylor Center. SMSU will play at the University of Sioux Falls on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE
Concordia-St. Paul- Concordia-St. Paul begins the weekend on a three-match winning streak following its only loss of the season to Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 7. The Golden Bears are led by Anna Schlaak, who was named the AVCA Division II Player of the Week on Monday. Schlaak has racked up a team-high 194 kills, a team-high 200 digs and is hitting .259. Riley Hanson ranks second on the squad with 182 kills and is hitting .444. Kasey Williams has dished out a team-high 698 assists. CSP is hitting .326 as a team, while opponents are hitting .132.

Minnesota State- Minnesota State, which plays host to Sioux Falls on Friday night, has lost two straight matches heading into the weekend. Krista Hassing is the team leader with 242 kills and is hitting .348, while Sydney Powell has 139 kills and is hitting .155. Autumn Risch paces the offense with 676 assists. MSU is hitting .208 as a team, while opponents are hitting .186.

SERIES HISTORY
Concordia-St. Paul- Concordia-St. Paul leads the all-time series 31-23 and has won 18 of the last 22 meetings since 2007. CSP defeated SMSU earlier this season, 3-1, in the finals of the Colorado Premier in Denver. SMSU's last win at CSP came during the championship match of the 2012 NSIC tournament.

Minnesota State- Southwest Minnesota State is 23-31 all-time versus Minnesota State in a series that started in 1971. SMSU has dominated in recently, winning 11 of the last 13 meetings since 2009. SMSU swept both matches last season and has won five straight in Mankato.

LAST WEEK
Southwest Minnesota State extended its winning streak to eight straight win a 3-0 win over Upper Iowa and a 3-2 victory over No. 7 Winona State. Taylor Reiss hit .643 with 18 kills and 14 digs to lead SMSU to a sweep of Upper Iowa University. SMSU hit a season-high .424 in the win with just six attack errors. The Mustangs finished tied with a season-low six attack errors (Sept. 3, Wisconsin Parkside) but the starters did not contribute any errors to the total. In the win over WSU, Megan Larson set a career-high 67 assists and added 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Larson powered the Mustang offense to 73 kills on 199 swings (.246). Reiss led the Mustangs with a match-high 25 kills in the win, while Sarah Parker racked up 18, Eisha Oden had 16 and Kaylee Burmeister added 10 of her own. Freshman libero Amber Messner had a career-high 24 digs in the win.

NATIONAL NEWS
SMSU is currently ranked third in the most recent AVCA poll released on Monday. The Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 140 consecutive polls dating back to Sept. 5, 2006, and have been ranked in the Top 10 for 44 consecutive polls.

MUSTANGS BY THE NCAA NUMBERS
In the latest NCAA stats through Sunday, the Mustangs are the second best team in the country in kills per set (14.95), second in assists per set (14.1), third in hitting percentage (.319) and 22nd in blocks per set (2.3). Megan Larson is ranked first in the country in assists per set (12.72) and sixth in total assists (763). Taylor Reiss is second in the country in kills per set (5.12), eighth in total kills (307) and 10th in attacks per set (12.33). Eisha Oden is ranked fifth in hitting percentage (.423), while Sarah Parker is 15th in hitting percentage (.393).

SMSU AMONG THE CONFERENCE LEADERS (NSIC Matches)
In NSIC matches only, SMSU leads the conference in hitting percentage (.332), kills (14.94) and assists (14.2), while ranking second in opponent hitting percentage (.150) and service aces (1.78). SMSU is also third in blocks (2.44). Eisha Oden ranks second in hitting percentage (.461), while Sarah Parker is third (.435) and third in blocks (1.25). Taylor Reiss is second in kills (5.19) and second in points (5.78), while Megan Larson leads the NSIC in assists (13.06).

NSIC SETTER OF THE WEEK...AGAIN
Junior Megan Larson was named NSIC Setter of the Week on Oct. 17 for the second straight week. She also earned the award on Oct. 10. Larson helped the fourth-ranked Mustangs to a pair of NSIC home wins, including a 3-0 sweep over Upper Iowa on Friday and a 3-2 victory over No. 7 Winona State on Saturday. She finished the weekend with 112 assists, averaging 14 per set and also added 15 digs, four block assists and two kills. In the win over UIU, Larson recorded 45 assists with five digs and three block assists, while her passing helped SMSU hit a season-high .424 with just six hitting errors. In the victory over WSU, in which SMSU trailed two sets to one, she dished out a career-high 67 assists with 10 digs to record her fifth double-double of the season.   
 
NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Taylor Reiss received her second NSIC Offensive Player of the Week of the season on Sept. 26. She was also named NSIC Player of the Week on Sept. 6. Reiss earned the conference's Defensive Player of the Week recognition twice in 2015.

MUSTANGS IN THE All-TIME RECORD BOOK
SMSU currently has four players climbing the all-time ranks of various statistical categories in the program record book. Megan Larson is second all-time in assists per set (10.62) and ranks fifth in total assists (3,357). Taylor Reiss is currently third all-time in attack percentage (.338). Eisha Oden is ranked fourth in program history in career attack percentage (.326) and eighth all-time in blocks per set (1.01), while Sarah Parker is eighth in career attack percentage (.310), eighth in block assists (289) and 10th in total blocks (358).

STARTING STRONG
The Mustangs have gotten off to fast starts so far this season winning 15 out of 17 opening sets thus far. SMSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 414-270 in the first set this year.

SEEING DOUBLE
Taylor Reiss currently leads the Mustangs with eight double-doubles this season. Megan Larson has recorded five double-doubles, while Kaylee Burmeister has four on the season.

TOUGH COMPETITION
Southwest Minnesota State faces another tough schedule in the 2016 as five schools from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate conference made it into the AVCA preseason Top 25 poll while three of those schools made it into the Top-10, including top ranked Concordia-St. Paul. Four of the Mustangs' six scheduled non-conference opponents appeared in the AVCA preseason Top 25, including 2015 national runners-up, Palm Beach Atlantic (Fla). SMSU is currently 6-3 in matches against the nation's Top 25, including a 3-0 victory over second ranked Wayne State on Sept. 17.

HOME SWEET HOME
Since Terry Culhane took over as head coach at SMSU in 2004, the Mustangs have compiled a 116-26 record at the PE Gym. The Mustangs have won at least seven home matches since the start of the 2003 season and are 5-1 this year.

MUSTANGS CONFERENCE HISTORY UNDER TC
The Mustangs are 190-43 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches during Terry Culhane's tenure.

NUMBER 900
The Mustangs surpassed the 900 win milestone as a program on Sept. 10, when they beat Angelo State (Texas) 3-0. The Mustangs are also a combined 364-173 all-time in conference matches since their first season of volleyball in 1971.

RECORD BOOK REISS
Sophomore Taylor Reiss, set the Southwest Minnesota State record for kills (35) in 4 sets against Lewis (Ill.) on Sept. 3 and was just three shy of the single-match record. Her performance broke a record that had stood 26 years having been set by Beth Elliot versus Winona State back in October of 1990. Her 79 total attacks were the fourth most attempts in the program's history for four sets and tied for eighth in all matches.

MUSTANGS LEAVE MARK ON MILE HIGH CITY
SMSU traveled to Denver for the Colorado Premier Challenge earlier this season for the fourth consecutive season and the eighth time since the tournament's inception. The Mustangs finished as tournament runners-up this season, falling to Concordia-St. Paul, and are now 23-9 all-time in the tournament. SMSU has advanced to the championship match three times. SMSU players, Sarah Parker, Megan Larson, Taylor Reiss and Eisha Oden, were named to the 2016 Premier All-Tournament team. The Mustangs have now had 18 players receive All-Tournament selections in their history at the Colorado Premier.