MARSHALL, Minn.– The fourth ranked Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball team returns to Marshall for its regular season home opener and first NSIC match of the year when they take on No. 20 Augustana on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The Mustangs face another tough test later this weekend when they travel to Wayne, Neb., to meet up with the second ranked Wayne State Wildcats this Saturday at 2 p.m. SMSU traveled to Denver, Colo. last week for the Colorado Premier Challenge. The Mustangs won their first three matches last Friday and Saturday and advanced to the championship match Saturday night where they fell to No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, 3-1. SMSU also eclipsed the 900 win milestone as a program with its 3-0 win over Angelo State (Texas).

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE: 
Augustana— No. 20 Augustana will travel to Marshall coming off of its first loss of the season last Saturday in the Augustana Invitational to No. 9 Winona State, 3-0. Prior to their loss the Vikings had begun the season with a 7-1 record after winning four matches to begin the year at the Lewis University 'Flyer Festival' and proceeded to win their first three matches in their host tournament, the Augustana Invitational. The Vikings moved up two spots this week in the latest AVCA poll after beginning the season unranked in the first poll of the year.

Wayne State— The second ranked Wayne State Wildcats enter this week's matches after starting the season without a blemish, going 8-0 the past two weekends in tournaments in Colorado.  The Wildcats went 4-0 in the Hampton Inn/ Denver West Golden Oredigger Volleyball Classic to open the season in Golden, Colo. WSC followed up with another 4-0 weekend last week in the CSU-Pueblo Steel & Silver Classic in Pueblo, Colo. The Wildcats started the season ranked No. 6 in the preseason AVCA coaches' poll and keep the same No. 2 ranking that they held a week ago.

SERIES HISTORY:
Augustana — Southwest Minnesota State currently trails the its all-time series with Augustana, 29-30-1. The series dates back to the 1972 season. The Mustangs have won 17 of the last 18 matches dating back to September of 2005. This match will also mark the fourth consecutive meeting in which both schools have been ranked in the nation's top 25 with SMSU going 2-1 in those matches. The No. 20 ranking for Augustana will be the highest ranking the Vikings have had in all matches against SMSU. The Mustangs have a 16-14 advantage in home matches with Augustana as well as a 9-1 advantage in conference matches.

Wayne State— Southwest Minnesota State currently have a losing record all-time versus Wayne State, trailing the series 23-28-1 dating back to the 1980 season. The Mustangs dropped both of their two matches versus Wayne State last season including a 3-1 loss in the NCAA Central Regional Semifinal match that ended the Mustangs' season. This meeting will mark the 11th straight match between SMSU and WSC in which both teams were ranked in the top 25 and the fifth of those in which both teams were ranked inside the top 10. SMSU is 4-6 in the previous meetings with both teams being nationally ranked with its last win coming in October of 2014. This will be the highest AVCA ranking for Wayne State in a match against SMSU since the Mustangs defeated No. 1 Wayne State in October of the 2010 season.

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is currently ranked fourth in the most recent AVCA poll released on Monday. The Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top-25 for 136 consecutive polls dating back to Sept. 5, 2006, and have been ranked in the Top-10 for 40 consecutive polls.

MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS: After the first two weekends of the season, the Mustangs are the third best team in the country in kills per set (14.96), fourth in hitting percentage (.304), and fifth in assists per set (13.93). Megan Larson is the second ranked player in the country in assists per set (12.32) while Taylor Reiss is third in the country in kills per set (5.04).

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 currently 3-2 in matches against the nation's top 25.

HEAD COACH: Terry Culhane is in his 13th season at the helm of the Mustang volleyball team. During his tenure Culhane has transformed SMSU into a premier volleyball program becoming the winningest head coach in program history in both total wins and winning percentage. He has accumulated an overall record of 318-89 (.781), including a 182-42 record in conference matches. Culhane has led SMSU to 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.

MUSTANGS LEAVE MARK ON MILE HIGH CITY: SMSU traveled to Denver for the Colorado Premier Challenge for the eighth time since the tournament's inception and for the fourth consecutive season. The Mustangs are now 23-9 all-time in the Colorado Premier after making it to the championship match for the third time ever.  Four SMSU players, Sarah Parker, Megan Larson, Taylor Reiss and Eisha Oden, were named to the 2016 All-Tournament Team. The Mustangs have now had 18 players recieve All-Tournament selections in their history at the Colorado Premier.

NUMBER 900: The Mustangs surpassed the 900 win milestone as a program last Saturday, when they beat Angelo State (Texas) 3-0. The Mustangs are also a combined 357-173 all-time in conference matches since their first season of volleyball in 1971.

NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore, Taylor Reiss was the first SMSU player of the year to earn Player of the Week after she was named the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 29-Sept. 4. Reiss played all 15 sets for the Mustangs recording a team high 85 kills as well as 33 digs, eight blocks. She finished the weekend with a .343 hitting percentage and a conference leading 6.07 points per set in four matches for the Mustangs. This marked the fist career Offensive Player of the Week for Reiss after she earned the conference's Defensive Player of the Week recognition twice in 2015.

RECORD BOOK REISS: Sophomore, Taylor Reiss, set the Southwest Minnesota State record for kills (35) in 4 sets falling just three shy of the single-match record against Lewis (Ill.) on Sept. 3. 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.

All-TIME MUSTANGS: SMSU currently has three players climbing the all-time ranks of various statistical categories. Eisha Oden is ranked sixth in program history in career attack percentage (.309) and seventh in all-time in blocks per set (1.03) while Sarah Parker is eighth in career attack percentage (.298). Megan Larson is second all-time in assists per set (10.35) and seventh in total assists (2,939).

HOME SWEET HOME: Since Terry Culhane took over as head coach at SMSU in 2004, the Mustangs have compiled a 111-25 record at the PE Gym and concluded the 2015 regular season with a 9-2 record at home. The Mustangs have won seven or more matches and have not lost more than four at home since the 2003 season.

ALL-TIME HOME OPENERS: Since 2000, SMSU is 10-6 in home openers winning six of its previous seven. The Mustangs lost last season's home opener to No. 8 Wayne State, 3-0.

NSIC OPENERS: The Mustangs improved to 11-6 in Northern Sun openers since 2000 after winning at Sioux Falls on Sept. 17. The last time SMSU dropped a conference opener was in 2012 at the hands of No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul.