MARSHALL, Minn.-  The fourth-ranked Southwest Minnesota State University women's volleyball team will enter the 2016 NCAA tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Central Region. The Mustangs (26-5)  will travel to St. Paul, Minn., to take on the No. 7 seed Wayne State (24-7) at 2:30 p.m., making it a third meeting between the two teams this year. SMSU will be making its 13th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and 14th overall appearance.

NCAA TOURNAMENT: Top ranked Concordia-St. Paul will host the Central Region tournament for the third time in the past five years and ninth time overall. The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference will send six of the eight schools competing for the chance to advance to the national quarterfinals in Sioux Falls, S.D. Minnesota Duluth, Winona State, Augustana, and Wayne State will join Concordia-St. Paul and SMSU in the Central Region bracket.

Thursday, Dec. 1-Quarterfinals:
(A) No. 3 Nebraska-Kearney vs. No. 6 Augustana | 12 p.m.
(B) No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State vs. No. 7 Wayne State | 2:30 p.m.
(C) No. 4 Minnesota Duluth vs. No. 5 Winona State | 5:00 p.m.
(D) No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul vs. No. 8 Southern Nazarene | 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 2-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. 3-Championship (Winner to NCAA DII VB Championships, Sioux Falls, S.D., Dec 8-10):
Winner of E and F match | 7:00 p.m.

SMSU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:
Southwest Minnesota State has an all-time record of 14-13 in its 13 previous NCAA tournament appearances. SMSU has won six straight NCAA first round matches, defeating Colorado School of Mines (2010), MSU Denver (2011), Truman (2012), Washburn (2013 & 2015), and Nebraska-Kearney (2014). SMSU is 9-4 all-time in NCAA tournament first round matches.

SMSU IN THE GANGELHOFF CENTER: Since 2004, Southwest Minnesota State is 38-27 all-time playing in the Gangelhoff Center. SMSU is 11-17 when playing Concordia-St. Paul and 27-10 when playing other opponents. SMSU holds a 4-7 record in the Gangelhoff Center in NCAA tournament matches.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE:
Wayne State - The Wildcats enter the Central Region tournament after finishing the regular season sixth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and advancing to the NSIC semifinals where they were swept by SMSU. Wayne State was fifth in the conference this year in opponents' hitting percentage holding teams to .176 hitting. Michaela Mestl was third in the conference with 50 service aces (0.45 aces/set). Alex Opperman finished third in the NSIC in blocks with 1.09 blocks/set.

SERIES HISTORY:
Wayne State - Wayne State leads the all-time series 28-25-1. SMSU swept both meetings between the two teams this year winning the first meeting of the year 25-21, 25-17, 25-23 back on Sept. 17. The Mustangs then defeated Wayne State 25-12, 26-24, 25-21 in the NSIC semifinal round. WSC defeated SMSU 3-1 in the second round of the Central Region tournament last season. In their two wins over WSC this season, Taylor Reiss has is averaging 5.17 kills per set and 3.5 digs per set. Eisha Oden has racked up 21 kills and nine blocks  and Kalyee Burmeister has tallied 24 kills with a .350 attack percentage and 3.67 digs per set.

SERIES HISTORY (POTENTIAL OPPONENTS): Against the other six teams the Mustangs could potentially face further down the Central Region bracket, SMSU is... 24-32 against Concordia-St. Paul including 1-2 versus CSP so far this year ... 1-0 all-time against Southern Nazarene (Okla.) ... 17-64 all-time versus Minnesota Duluth ... 64-30-1 all-time against Winona State ... 2-6 all-time versus Nebraska-Kearney ... and 29-31-1 all-time against Augustana.

POSTSEASON NSIC AWARDS: SMSU had five all-conference selections this year 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 received recognition as the NSIC Coach of the Year.

SMSU LEADERS: Taylor Reiss currently leads the Mustangs in kills with 524 (4.94 k/set). Eisha Oden is the team leader in hitting percentage (.419). Oden is also the Mustangs' leader in blocks with 102 (.97 blk/set) while Sarah Parker is a close second with 99 (.93 blk/set). True freshman, Amber Messner, leads Southwest Minnesota State in digs (454) while junior setter, Megan Larson, has tallied 1,373 assists (12.95 a/set) and is also the team leader in service aces with 35.

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is currently ranked fourth in the most recent AVCA poll released last 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. 20, the Mustangs were first in the country in kills per set (15.24), first in assists per set (14.36), and second in hitting percentage (.318). Megan Larson was first in the country in assists per set (12.95) and third in total assists (1,373). Taylor Reiss was third in the country in kills per set (4.94), sixth in total kills (524) and 12th in attacks per set (12.07). Eisha Oden is second in hitting percentage (.419), while Sarah Parker is 15th in hitting percentage (.378).

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

SEEING DOUBLE: Taylor Reiss currently leads the Mustangs with 16 double-double performances. Kaylee Burmeister has racked up 11 double-doubles while Megan Larson has produced 10 so far this year.

STARTING STRONG: The Mustangs have gotten off to fast starts so far this season winning 25 of 31 opening sets thus far. SMSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 752-536 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 currently ranks...  second all-time in assists per set (10.96) fourth in career assists (3,967) fifth in career service attempts (1,533) second in single season assists per set (12.95) 10th in single season assists (1,373) Taylor Reiss currently ranks... third in single season kills per set (4.94) third in career kills per set (4.38) fifth in career attack percentage (.321) 10th in single season attack attempts (1,279) Eisha Oden currently ranks... second in career attack percentage (.339) eighth in career blocks per set (1.02) second in single season attack percentage in school history (.419) 10th in single season block assists (120) Sarah Parker currently ranks... sixth in career attack percentage (.315) seventh in career block assists (317) sixth in career blocks (393) tenth in career solo blocks (76). third in single season attack percentage (.378)

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 375-175 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 9-5 in matches against the nation's top 25 this season.

CCA ALL-REGION HONORS: The Conference Commissioner's Association (CCA) announced on Tuesday morning that Taylor Reiss and Megan Larson have been named to the 2016 Division II All-Central region first team. Reiss was also named the CCA Central Region Player of the Year