MARSHALL, Minn.- Coming off of a 3-1 win over Sioux Falls at home on Tuesday night, the second-ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team will head to Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State this weekend for its final two road NSIC matches of the 2017 regular season.

SMSU will play at Minnesota Duluth on Friday night at 6 p.m., to begin the weekend followed by a Saturday afternoon match at St. Cloud State beginning at 2 p.m.

SMSU Quick Hits

- The Mustangs defeated Sioux Falls on Tuesday night, 25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-14 and came in ranked No. 1 in the first NCAA Central Region Poll of the year which was released on Wednesday 

- SMSU dropped from the top spot in the AVCA Top-25 rankings this week after falling to No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul at home this past Saturday 

- SMSU tied the longest home win streak since 2004 with its 16th win in a row in the PE Gym last Friday against Minnesota State (locations not available before 04)

- Megan Larson became the program's all-time leader in assists and service attempts this year and is also the leader in career assists per set

- Kaylee Burmeister and Taylor Reiss are responsible for 53 percent of the team's total kills and 39 percent of the Mustangs' total digs 

- Brooke Borchardt has career highs in kills and blocks in her final season as a Mustang


Minnesota Duluth: Match Preview

    Series History

- Minnesota Duluth leads the all-time series, 64-18

- UMD has held a top-5 national ranking in the last 13 matches dating back to 2011 against SMSU (SMSU is 6-7 against UMD over that stretch)

- SMSU has won 3 of 4 matches against UMD including a 3-1 win in the 2014 NCAA Central Region Tournament

- The Mustangs are 5-26 all-time on the road against Minnesota Duluth and 12-47 all-time in conference matches

- UMD swept last season's regular season matchup in Duluth

- Last time out: SMSU improved its record to 15-0 back on Sept. 30 with a sweep over No. 6 UMD

- Taylor Reiss and Kaylee Burmeister combined for 31 kills in the first match vs. UMD

- The Mustangs finished the match with a .386 hitting percentage as a team including 19 kills and a .429 attack percentage in the third set

- Reiss finished with 17 kills on just 32 attacks and one error (.500) in the first match

- Sarina Smith, Brooke Borchardt and Taylor Reiss each had three block assists in the September win over UMD

    Minneosta Duluth Team Notes

- Minnesota Duluth enters the weekend coming off of a 25-17, 25-18, 26-24 sweep over St. Cloud State on Tuesday night

- Minnesota Duluth dropped back-to-back matches for the first time all season in an 0-2 weekend at MSU Moorhead and Northern State last weekend

- UMD committed a season-high 40 errors vs. MSU-Moorhead, the most since Grand Valley State University forced 41 mistakes back on Sept. 3, 2005

-Sophomore libero, Keena Seiffert, scooped up 34 digs for a team-high 4.25 digs/set last weekend

- Junior right side hitter, Sarah Kelly, and junior outside hitter, Makenzie Morgen, led the UMD offense with 24 kills each (3.00 k/set)
 

St. Cloud State: Match Preview
    Series History

- SMSU leads the all-time series 25-18

- The Mustangs have held a 19-1 record over St. Cloud State since Head Coach, Terry Culhane, took over the program in 2004

- SMSU has won 24 of the last 25 matches between the two dating back to 2000

- SMSU is 11-6 all-time on the road in St. Cloud

- The Mustangs hold a 13-6 record in conference matches

- St. Cloud State dominated the series in its infancy, winning the first 16 matches between the two schools during the 70's, 80's and 90's

- Last time out: The Mustangs improved to 14-0 on the season back on Sept. 29 in the first match against St. Cloud State with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-19 sweep over the Huskies

- Brooke Borchardt led SMSU in the first match with 13 kills and a .522 attack percentage

- Taylor Reiss had 12 kills on just 26 swings with five block assists

- Sarina Smith had five block assists and one solo block in the Mustangs' win over SCSU as SMSU racked up nine total blocks as a team

       St. Cloud State Team Notes

- St. Cloud State enters the weekend after being swept, 25-17, 25-18, 26-24 against Minnesota Duluth on the road Tuesday night

- The Huskies will host Sioux Falls on Friday night before taking on SMSU on Saturday afternoon

- St. Cloud State split the team's two road matches last week with a 3-0 loss to No. 9 Northern State and a 3-1 victory over MSU Moorhead

- The program's 15 wins on the season is the most for SCSU since the 2004 squad had 19 victories

- Becca Gruber led the team with her 17 kills (2.43 per set) and .341 hitting percentage last week

- Clara Krenz began the week with 522 digs this season, which is the fourth-most in a single season in school history


Playoff Picture

- SMSU will clinch a home playoff birth with two more wins going into the weekend

- SMSU is currently tied with Northern State in the current NSIC standings and holds a one game lead over UMD as it gets set to travel to Duluth this weekend

- Southwest Minnesota State topped the first NCAA Central Region rankings of the year which was released on Wednesday

- The Mustangs edged out No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul in the first Central Region rankings with one more win against region opponents

- The top eight teams in the region will advance to the NCAA region tournament on Nov. 30- Dec. 2

NCAA Statistical Rankings

Highlights of the latest NCAA Statistical Rankings Update (10/30):

- The Mustangs are third in the nation in kills per set (15.11)

- SMSU is fifth in the country in assists per set (14.01) and ninth in hitting percentage (.286)

- Megan Larson is third in assists per set (12.3), Taylor Reiss is sixth in kills per set (4.7), and Brooke Borchardt is ninth in attack percentage (.409)


NSIC Statistical Rankings (Conf. matches)

Highlights of the latest NSIC Statistical Rankings Update (10/30) :

- SMSU sits alone in second in the NSIC standings after a loss to CSP broke the deadlock at the top of the standings

- SMSU is first in the NSIC in opponent hitting percentage (.159), third in kills (14.98 k/set) and second in team hitting percentage (.302)

- Taylor Reiss leads the conference in kills per set (4.83) and is first in points per set (5.28)

- Megan Larson is second in the conference in assists per set (12.30)

- Brooke Borchardt is second in the NSIC in hitting percentage (.401)


Doubling Down

- Taylor Reiss leads the team with 12 double-double performances including four 20-20 matches, eight matches with at least 20 kills, and seven with at least 15 digs

- Kaylee Burmeister is second with 11 double-double performances including 16 kills and 12 digs vs. USF on Tuesday night

- Setter, Megan Larson, has nine double-double performances with double-digit digs and assists in those matches while also contributing at least five kills in four matches this season


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 53 percent of the Mustangs' total kills (696/1,306) so far this season and 39 percent of the team's total digs (545/1,410)


Borchardt Saves Best for Last

- Senior middle blocker, Brooke Borchardt, has career highs in kills (230), kills per set (2.71), and blocks per set (.88) so far this season in her final year as a Mustang

- Borchardt's .923 attack percentage against U-Mary was a season high for SMSU and first time since 2011 that an SMSU player has hit over .775

- Borchardt already has more blocks than she did in all of 2016 and has more than twice as many kills (230) this season than her career total entering the year (87)


Reiss: Attacking the Record Books

- Taylor Reiss had her fourth 20-20 match of the season with 23 kills and 20 digs against Sioux Falls on Tuesday night

- Reiss is currently averaging the fifth most kills per set (4.72) for a single season in school history after setting the mark for third most kills per set (4.89) last season

- Reiss is one of just three players in the top-10 in career kills with a career hitting percentage over .300


Larson: Setting the Standard

- Megan Larson, the first SMSU player to surpass 5,000 career assists earlier this season and also became the all-time leader in career service attempts

- Larson has also moved into first in career assists and career assists per set during the 2017 season

- Larson is second in the NSIC with 12.4 assists per set so far this season


Home Sweet Home

- SMSU started the year 7-1 in home matches this season after posting a 10-1 home record in 2016 and tied the longest home win streak in school history at 16

- SMSU had its home winning streak snapped last weekend in a loss to No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul

- The Mustangs are 313-151 all-time in the PE Gym


SMSU Hot Starts

- The Mustangs' have lost just four opening sets this year winning the other 20

- SMSU has outscored opponents 585-476 in opening sets this year

- The Mustangs have also won set two 18 times this year while outscoring opponents 581-465


To Be the Best; Beat the Best

- SMSU has started the year 9-2 against ranked opponents that includes a stretch of six straight matches against ranked opponents

- SMSU has a 4-1 record against AVCA Top-10 opponents this season

-The Mustangs had wins over three of the eight NCAA Region Champions during the 2016 season (Concordia-St. Paul, Palm Beach Atl., Angelo State)

- SMSU defeated defending National Champions and then No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul in the Colo. Premier Championship

- SMSU fell to No. 2 CSP on Oct. 28 in a 1 vs. 2 rematch


Mustangs in the National Spotlight

- SMSU lost its No. 1 ranking after a 3-1 loss to Concordia-St. Paul last Saturday afternoon in the PE Gym but fall just one place to No. 2 in this week's poll

- SMSU has been ranked in the AVCA's Top-25 for 157 consecutive polls and has made it into the nation's Top-10 teams for 61 consecutive polls (dates back to Sept. 2006) 

- The Mustangs finished 2016 ranked 2nd in the final AVCA Top-25 Poll of the year and were ranked 2nd in this season's preseason poll