MARSHALL, Minn. – The fifth ranked Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball team returns to Marshall for a midweek conference match with Sioux Falls (6-4, 0-2 NSIC) on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The Mustangs are coming off of a 3-0 sweep of second ranked Wayne State last Saturday afternoon. SMSU lost its conference and home opener last Thursday to No. 20 Augustana, but rebounded nicely by beating Wayne State 25-21, 25-17, 25-23.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE: The University of Sioux Falls volleyball team will travel to Marshall after dropping their first two conference matches to Wayne State and Augustana. The Cougars were swept by No. 2 Wayne State at home last Thursday, losing 25-13, 25-20, 25-17. Sioux Falls hit the road on Saturday for a meeting with No. 20 Augustana, but lost its second straight match 25-20, 25-27, 25-20, 25-20. The Cougars have outhit opponents 472-392 in kills through 10 matches and have racked up 57 service aces.

SERIES HISTORY: Southwest Minnesota State currently leads the all-time series with Sioux Falls 9-1 with its only loss coming in five sets back in October of the 2013 season. The Mustangs have won the previous four contests and have lost just three sets in four matches against the Cougars. SMSU won the first two non-conference meetings which came in 1981 and 1993 and have since gone 7-1 in conference matches versus Sioux Falls in after the Cougars joined the NSIC in 2012.

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is currently ranked fifth in the most recent AVCA poll released on Monday. The Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top-25 for 137 consecutive polls dating back to Sept. 5, 2006, and have been ranked in the Top-10 for 41 consecutive polls.

MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS: After the first three weekends of the season, the Mustangs are the second  best team in the country in kills per set (14.89), third in hitting percentage (.306), and fourth in assists per set (13.86). Megan Larson is the third ranked player in the country in assists per set (12.17) and No. 16 in total assists (438). Taylor Reiss is second in the country in kills per set (5.11), seventh in total kills (184), and ninth in attacks per set (12.69). Reiss currently leads the NSIC in total kills for all matches. Eisha Oden came in at No. 16 in hitting percentage (.401). Through 10 matches, SMSU leads its opponents 536-431 in kills with the second best team hitting percentage (.306) in the NSIC.

STARTING STRONG: The Mustangs have gotten off to fast starts so far this season winning nine out of ten opening sets thus far. SMSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 241-170 in the first set of their first ten matches.

MUSTANGS CONFERENCE HISTORY: Since coach Terry Culhane took over the SMSU volleyball program, the Mustangs are a combined 183-43 (.809) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. Since conference schedules increased to 20 matches in 2008, SMSU is 134-28 (.827) in NSIC competition.

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 4-3 in matches against the nation's top 25 including a 3-0 victory over second ranked Wayne State on Sept. 17.

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 winningness head coach in program history in both total wins and winning percentage. He has accumulated an overall record of 319-90 (.781), including a 183-43 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.

HOME SWEET HOME: Since Terry Culhane took over as head coach at SMSU in 2004, the Mustangs have compiled a 111-26 record at the PE Gym and concluded the 2015 regular season with a 9-2 record at home. The Mustangs have won at least seven home matches since the start of the 2003 season.

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 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.

All-TIME MUSTANGS: SMSU currently has three players climbing the all-time ranks of various statistical categories. Eisha Oden is ranked fifth in program history in career attack percentage (.313) and seventh in all-time in blocks per set (1.04) while  Sarah Parker is eighth in career attack percentage (.299). Megan Larson is second all-time in assists per set (10.38) and seventh in total assists (3,032).

MISS 3000: Megan Larson surpassed the 3,000 career assist milestone on Sept. 17 versus Wayne State making her the seventh setter in program history to reach that mark. Larson is now 123 assists shy of moving up to sixth in career assists in school history and 147 short of moving into the top five.

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.

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.