MARSHALL, Minn.- No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State (16-1, 8-1 NSIC) will look to return to its winning ways this weekend as it hosts Minot State (3-14, 0-9 NSIC) on Friday night at 6 p.m., followed by another home match against the University of Mary on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

SMSU Quick Hits

- Taylor Reiss has moved into 9th place all-time in career kills and set a season high with 28 kills at Northern State last Saturday

- Megan Larson became the all-time leader in assists per set with her 13.0 assists per set last weekend

- SMSU remains in the nation's top-five teams after dropping to No.2 in this week's AVCA Top-25 Poll

- The Mustangs' 16-0 start was the best start to season in school history and the second longest win streak overall in SMSU history

- SMSU has swept nine opponents in its 17 matches this year

- The Mustangs are the second ranked team in the nation with 15.45 kills per set

- SMSU is in the midst of a 13-match home unbeaten streak, the third longest streak since the start of the 2004 season


Minot State: Match Preview

    Series History

- SMSU leads 7-0

- SMSU has won all seven matches over the Beavers since Minot State joined the NSIC in 2012

- The Mustangs have never dropped a set to the Beavers and were pushed to extra points in just one set back in 2014, a match SMSU would win 25-16, 26-24, 25-23

- SMSU is 4-0 all-time against Minot State at home in Marshall

- SMSU swept Minot State, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18 in the final match of the 2016 regular season to clinch a share of the 2016 NSIC Championship

    Minot State Team Notes

- Overall Record: 3-14

- Road Record: 0-4

- Current Streak: Lost 13

- The Beavers will play at Dickinson State University on Tuesday night for a midweek non-conference match before traveling to play SMSU and USF over the weekend

- Minot State's offense averaged 12.7 kills per set over the two matches last week

- The Beavers hit .233 vs. WSC which is a season-high in NSIC play and their third best mark on the season overall

- Minot State hit .104 for the week last Friday and Saturday with a total of 89 kills and 42 errors in the two matches

- Freshman Karli Koza notched 56 digs on the weekend, including a season-high 36 digs vs. WSC which ranks first in the NSIC for most in a match

- Hayley Swain posted a career-high 17 kills along with three blocks in 3-1 loss vs. WSC


U-Mary: Match Preview

    Series History

- SMSU leads 17-0

- The Mustangs have never lost to the University of Mary in the 17 all-time matchups that dates back to 2006

- SMSU has only dropped two sets in 17 all-time matches vs U-Mary which came in two separate 3-1 wins for SMSU in 2015 and 2016

- SMSU is 9-0 all-time over U-Mary at home in Marshall

- The Mustangs swept the last match against U-Mary which came on the final weekend of the 2016 regular season in which SMSU clinched its share of the 2016 NSIC Championship

    U-Mary Team Notes

- Overall Record: 5-13

- Road Record: 2-4

- Current Streak: Lost 6

- The Marauders are coming off of a four-match homestand and will begin a stretch of four consecutive road matches this weekend

- U-Mary is in the midst of a stretch of five straight matches against teams receiving votes in the AVCA Top-25 and will extend that stretch to seven straight as they face SMSU and USF on the road this weekend

- Lauren Randall, second in the NSIC in both kills per set (4.41) and points per set (4.79), opened the weekend with 16 kills and a .270 hitting percentage against Wayne State

- Junior setter, Amanda Lopes, posted 30 assists on 34 kills against Wayne State and 23 on 26 against Aigustana

- Freshman, Morgan Schnabel, is second on the team in total kills with 110, followed by Anna Nietfeld at 83


Borchardt Saves Best for Last

- Senior middle blocker, Brooke Borchardt, is averaging career highs in kills (169), kills per set (2.82), and blocks per set (.95) in her final year as a Mustang

- Borchardt's 169 kills are almost double her career total entering this year (87) and her 52 blocks on the season are just 23 shy of tying her career total from her first three years at SMSU


Larson: Setting the Bar High

- With her 13.0 assists per set last weekend, Megan Larson, is now the all-time leader in assists per set in addition to holding the record for career assists

- Larson now sits just 130 assists shy of becoming the first player in SMSU history to surpass the 5,000 career assist milestone

- Larson had the second most assists (1,517) and assists per set (12.86) for a single season in program history in 2016


One-Two Punch

- Mustangs' junior outside hitters, Taylor Reiss and Kaylee Burmeister, are a huge part of SMSU's strong start after both playing major roles in last season's Region Championship run

- Reiss and Burmeister have combined for 54 percent of the Mustangs' total kills (500/927) so far this season and 40 percent of the team's total digs (401/1,006)

- Burmeister and Reiss combined for 72 kills and 62 digs in two matches last weekend


Reiss: Attacking the Record Books

- Taylor Reiss continued to move up the all-time career kills leaderboard into ninth all-time last weekend as she tallied a season high 28 kills at Northern State

- Reiss is currently averaging the fifth most kills per set (4.73) for a single season in school history after setting the mark for third most kills per set (4.89) last season

- Reiss had 35 kills vs. Lewis (Ill.) last season, breaking the program record for kills in a four-set match


Home Sweet Home

- SMSU has started the year a perfect 3-0 in home matches with wins over Wayne State, St. Cloud State and No. 6 Minnesota Duluth

- SMSU has won 13 consecutive home matches, the third longest home winning streak since 2004 

- SMSU won 14 straight at home from 2011-12 and 16 straight in 2009-10 which was snapped by a loss to No. 10 Nebraska-Kearney in the NCAA Central Region tournament

- The Mustangs are 309-150 all-time in the PE Gym


Mustangs Quick out of the Gates

- SMSU had its best win streak to start a season in program history in winning its first 16 matches of the 2017 season

- SMSU's previous best start to a season was 7-0 which it accomplished in both 2010 and 2012

- The Mustangs are 8-1 over ranked opponents and have won in straight sets in four of those wins

- The Mustangs had their 16-match win streak snapped in last Saturday's loss to Northern State

- The Mustangs' 16 consecutive wins was the second longest win streak in program history


Opening Set Success

- The Mustangs' opening set loss at Northern State was the only first set SMSU has lost all season long

- SMSU has outscored opponents 426-342 in opening sets this season

- Early set success has allowed SMSU to play from ahead for much of the season, only trailing in sets once in its loss at NSU


NCAA Statistical Rankings

Highlights of the latest NCAA Statistical Rankings Update (10/10):

- The Mustangs are second in the nation in kills per set (15.45)

- SMSU is third in the country in assists per set (14.28) and eighth in hitting percentage (.277)

- Megan Larson is fourth in assists per set (12.7), Taylor Reiss is seventh in kills per set (4.7), and Brooke Borchardt is tenth in attack percentage (.413)