MARSHALL, MINN.-  The fourth-ranked Southwest Minnesota State University women's volleyball team will prepare this week to compete in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament that begins this Wednesday night. The Mustangs won their final four matches of the regular season to qualify as the number two seed in this year's conference tournament and will face seventh seeded Sioux Falls (19-9, 13-7 NSIC) in a quarterfinal match on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Visit smsumustangs.com for live game coverage.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE: The Cougars have won three straight matches and seven of their last eight to qualify for the NSIC tournament as the seventh seed. USF closed out the regular season by sweeping Minot State and U-Mary at home last weekend. USF middle blocker, Lexi Scott, won NSIC Offensive Player of the Week this week and is second the team in kills with 299 (2.93 k/set). Makenna Rockeman is the team leader in that category and ranks third in the NSIC with 390 kills (3.82). Jordan Calef is the conference leader in blocks with 108 (1.2 blk/set) on the season.

SERIES HISTORY: The Mustangs have lost just once to USF as SMSU controls the all-time series 11-1. The only win for Sioux Falls came in five sets (25-15, 25-19, 25-27, 16-25, 13-15) back on Oct. 22, 2013. The Mustangs are 2-0 so far this season.

SMSU IN THE NSIC TOURNEY: The Mustangs have qualified for the NSIC Tournament in 12 consecutive seasons with an 11-7 mark in those matches. SMSU last won the conference tournament in 2012 when they defeated No. 24 Minnesota State, No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, and No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul. Southwest Minnesota State was knocked out last season by Winona State losing in five sets in the conference semifinal.

POSTSEASON NSIC AWARDS: SMSU had five all-conference selections announced by the NSIC last week as Kaylee Burmeister was named to the All-NSIC second team and Megan Larson, Sarah Parker, Eisha Oden, and Taylor Reiss were all named to the All-NSIC first team. Taylor Reiss was named the NSIC Player of the Year while head coach Terry Culhane recieved recognition as the NSIC Coach of the Year.

HOME SWEET HOME: Since Terry Culhane took over as head coach at SMSU in 2004, the Mustangs have compiled a 120-26 record at the PE Gym. The Mustangs have won at least seven home matches every year since the 2003 season and are 9-1 so far this year and are in the midst of a nine match home winning streak.

SMSU LEADERS: Taylor Reiss currently leads the Mustangs in kills with 477 (4.92 k/set). Eisha Oden is the team leader in hitting percentage (.416). Sarah Parker is the Mustangs' leader in blocks with 91 (.94 blk/set) while Oden is a close second with 88 (.92 blk/set). Amber Messner leads Southwest Minnesota State in digs (425), Kaylee Burmeister has the most service aces (32), and setter, Megan Larson, has tallied 1,249 assists (12.88 a/set).

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is currently ranked fourth in the most recent AVCA poll released this Monday with one first place vote. The Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top-25 for 145 consecutive polls dating back to Sept. 5, 2006, and have been ranked in the Top-10 for 49 consecutive polls.

MUSTANGS BY THE NCAA NUMBERS: SMSU has had one of the most effective attacks in all of Division II this season. According to NCAA DII rankings as of Nov. 13, the Mustangs were first in the country in kills per set (15.21), first in assists per set (14.29), and second in hitting percentage (.320). Megan Larson was first in the country in assists per set (12.88) and eighth in total assists (1,157). Taylor Reiss was third in the country in kills per set (4.92), seventh in total kills (477) and 12th in attacks per set (11.93). Eisha Oden is second in hitting percentage (.416), while Sarah Parker is 11th in hitting percentage (.387).

SMSU AMONG THE CONFERENCE LEADERS (NSIC Matches): In NSIC matches only, SMSU leads the conference in kills (15.30 k/set) and assists (14.43 a/set), is second in hitting percentage (.326), second in service aces (1.64 per set), and second in opponent hitting percentage (.152). SMSU is also tied for third in blocks (2.22 blk/set). Eisha Oden (.428) and Sarah Parker (.405) are second and fifth respectively in hitting percentage while Megan Larson is first in assists (13.10 a/set). Taylor Reiss is first in kills (4.87 k/set) while Amber Messner is 10th in digs (4.28 dig/set).

SEEING DOUBLE: Taylor Reiss currently leads the Mustangs with 13 double-double performances. Kaylee Burmeister has racked up nine double-doubles while Megan Larson has produced eight so far this year.

STARTING STRONG: The Mustangs have gotten off to fast starts so far this season winning 23 of 28 opening sets thus far. SMSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 681-479 in first sets so far this year.

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 (10.89) and ranks fourth in total assists (3,843) and sixth in service attempts (1,482). Larson is on pace to post the second most assists per set (12.88) for a season in program history. Taylor Reiss is on pace to post the third most kills per set (4.91) for a single season in school history, ranks third all-time in career kills per set (4.32), and is fifth in career attack percentage (.322). Eisha Oden is ranked third in program history in career attack percentage (.336), eighth all-time in blocks per set (1.01), and has the second highest single season attack percentage in school history (.416). Sarah Parker is sixth in career attack percentage (.316), seventh in block assists (310), sixth in total blocks (385), and tied for tenth in solo blocks (75). Parker currently has the third highest single season attack percentage (.387).

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 37-175 all-time in conference matches since their first season of volleyball in 1971.

TOUGH COMPETITION: Southwest Minnesota State face 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 now 8-4 in matches against the nation's top 25 this season.