MARSHALL, Minn. - The fifth ranked Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball will be on the road again this weekend as they travel to North Dakota for two NSIC contests against the University of Mary on Friday night at 7 p.m. followed by a meeting with Minot State on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Mustangs are coming off of an impressive performance at home Tuesday night when they swept Sioux Falls, 25-10, 25-16, 25-18. SMSU is currently the third best team in hitting percentage (.306) in the country.

OPPONENTS AT A GLANCE:
University of Mary- The Marauders are currently 7-5 overall on the year with a 2-1 NSIC record. U-Mary went 3-1 in four matches at the Washburn Invitational to open the season followed by a 3-0 win over Dickson State University. The Marauders then traveled to Kearney, Neb., for the New Victorian Inn & Suites/Runza Fall Classic where they went 1-3 to close out their non-conference schedule. After dropping its conference opener to No. 11 Northern State, U-Mary has won its last two NSIC contests over MSU Moorhead and Minot State respectively. U-Mary has tallied 70 service aces thus far this season and average 15.5 digs/set as well as 1.5 blocks/set.

Minot State- MSU began its season with a 4-4 record in non-conference matches followed by two NSIC losses against MSU Moorhead and No. 11 Northern State. The Beavers bounced back with a non-conference win over Briercrest College but were swept by U-Mary on Tuesday, 31-29, 25-13, 25-12. Minot State will face Sioux Falls on Friday night before its match with SMSU on Saturday afternoon. The Beavers 1-1 in home matches so far this season.

SERIES HISTORY: 
University of Mary- Southwest Minnesota State has never lost to the University of Mary leading the all-time series 15-0. The Mustangs have only lost a single set to U-Mary which came last season in a match SMSU still won decisively on the road, 20-25, 25-11, 25-8, 25-10. SMSU is 8-0 in matches played in Marshall and 6-0 in road matches against the Marauders.

Minot State- The Mustangs have never dropped a set to the Beavers since the series began in 2012 and lead the series 5-0. SMSU swept last year's contest on the road in Minot, N.D., 25-19, 25-13, 25-14. SMSU is 3-0 in home matches versus MSU and 2-0 in matches played in Minot.

NATIONAL NEWS: SMSU is currently ranked fifth in the most recent AVCA poll released last 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). Through 10 matches, SMSU led its opponents 536-431 in kills with the second best team hitting percentage (.306) in the NSIC. Megan Larson was the third ranked player in the country in assists per set (12.17) and No. 16 in total assists (438). Taylor Reiss was second in the country in kills per set (5.11), seventh in total kills (184), and ninth in attacks per set (12.69). Reiss led the NSIC in total kills for all matches through last weekend while Eisha Oden came in at No. 16 in hitting percentage (.401).

STARTING STRONG: The Mustangs have gotten off to fast starts so far this season winning ten out of eleven opening sets thus far. SMSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 266-180 in the first set of their first eleven matches.

MUSTANGS CONFERENCE HISTORY: Since coach Terry Culhane took over the SMSU volleyball program, the Mustangs are a combined 184-43 (.810) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. Since conference schedules increased to 20 matches in 2008, SMSU is 135-28 (.828) 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 winningest head coach in program history in both total wins and winning percentage. He has accumulated an overall record of 320-90 (.780), including a 184-43 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.

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 358-173 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.

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 83 assists shy of moving up to sixth in career assists in school history and 107 short of moving into the top five.

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 (.315) and seventh in all-time in blocks per set (1.04) while  Sarah Parker is eighth in career attack percentage (.302). Megan Larson is second all-time in assists per set (10.41) and seventh in total assists (3,072).

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.