MARSHALL, Minn.- The top-ranked Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball team (8-0) will open conference play this week as they travel to play at No. 9 Augustana on Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by its home opener against Wayne State on Saturday against No. 17 Wayne State as the Mustangs look to remain unbeaten on the season.


SMSU Quick Hits

- SMSU took over the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time since 2012 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll 

- Taylor Reiss was recognized this week as the Sports Imports/ AVCA DII National Player of the Week 

- Megan Larson and Taylor Reiss were recognized by the NSIC as Setter of the Week and Offensive Player of the week respectively 

- Larson became the program's all-time leader in career assists in SMSU's win over Ferris State last week

- Reiss became the 14th player in program history to surpass the 1,000 career kills mark in the Mustangs' win over No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul

- The Mustangs' captured their first Colorado Premier Championship in eight trips after defeating No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul last Saturday night 

- SMSU opens NSIC play this week taking on two more ranked opponents in No. 9 Augustana and No. 17 Wayne State


Augustana: Match Preview

    Series History

- SMSU is 18-2 in the last 20 matches overall vs. Augustana

- Augustana has a slight edge in the all-time series, leading 31-30-1

- The two teams went five sets in both matches last season

- Augustana defeated SMSU in its home opener, 17-25, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18, 15-11

- SMSU beat Augustana in the NCAA Central Region Semifinal match, 21-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-17, 15-9

- The Mustangs own a 9-2 conference record against Augustana since the Vikings joined the NSIC in 2008

- SMSU is 8-14-1 all-time vs. Augustana in road matches    

    Augustana Team Notes

- Overall Record: 8-1

- Home Record: 1-0

- Current Streak: Won 7

- Augustana was forced to change it's travel plans in the wake of Hurrican Irma last week; With the cancellation of the Bash at the Beach Volleyball Tournament in West Palm Beach, Fla., Augustana elected to compete in the Lindenwood Challenge in St. Charles, Mo.

- Augustana was swept in its only loss of the season to Regis University at the Oredigger Classic in Golden, Colo.

- Junior outside hitter, Courtney Place, leads the Vikings' attack with 3.68 kills per set and a .219 hitting percentage

- Senior middle blocker, Ashley Wilson, has a team high 33.0 total blocks on the year with seven solo blocks

- Senior setter, Alex Banker, is averaging 10.91 assists/set

- Senior libero, Tahlyr Banks, leads the team with 4.66 digs/set


Wayne State: Match Preview

    Series History

- Wayne State leads the all-time series 26-28-1

- SMSU won all three matches between the two school last season dropping just one set in the process

- SMSU swept the regular season matchup, swept WSC in the NSIC Tournament Semifinal, and won 3-1 in the NCAA Central Region Quarterfinal match

- The Mustangs are 7-5 against Wayne State in the last 12 matches and hold a 16-13 record over the Wildcats in conference matches

- SMSU is 12-6 all-time in home matches against WSC

    Wayne State Team Notes

- Overall Record: 5-3

- Road Record:1-1

- Current Streak: Lost 3

- Wayne State began the 2017 season with three non-conference tournaments

- WSC went 3-1 to start the year in the Colorado School of Mines Tournament in Golden, Colo.

- The Wildcats went 2-0 in Pueblo, Colo., at the CSU Pueblo Tournament

- Wayne State went 0-2 to wrap up non-conference action with losses to Colorado-Colo. Springs and Colo. School of Mines in Colo. Springs at the UCCS Tournament

- Senior, Erin Gross, leads the Wildcats' attack with 2.69 kills per set 

- Redshirt freshman, Jaci Brahmer, is averaging a team high 1.44 blocks per set

- Sophomore libero, Haley Kauth, averages 4.31 digs per set

- Junior setter, Megan Gebhardt, is currently averaging 9.06 assists per set


Larson: Setting the Bar High

- One weekend after taking over second on the Mustangs all-time career assist leaderboard, Megan Larson, continued to raise her career average (she averaged 13.29 a/set in the Colo. Premier) on the way to becoming the SMSU all-time career assist leader in the win over No. 8 Ferris State

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


Reiss: Attacking the Record Books

- Reiss became the 14th player in program history to surpass the 1,000 career kills milestone in the Mustangs win over No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul

- Reiss now sits just 96 kills away from moving into the Mustangs' top-10 in career kills

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


Mustangs Quick out of the Gates

- SMSU is off to its best start in school history after winning its first eight matches of the year

- The Mustangs are already 5-0 over ranked opponents and have swept three of their first eight opponents

- SMSU won six of its first seven matches in 2016

- The Mustangs' longest win streak last season was 14 straight matches from Sept. 17 to Oct. 28

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


Sports Imports/ AVCA National POW

- Taylor Reiss was named this week's Sports Imports/ AVCA Division II National Player of the Week for her performance in the Colo. Premier

- Reiss won the award as a freshman middle blocker back in 2014 and is the fourth SMSU player to do so with this week marking the fifth time overall for a Mustang volleyball player

- Reiss was named Colo. Premier Tournament MVP with 18 kills vs. No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, and 4.0 k/set, 2.0 d/set and nine total blocks for the tournament 


NSIC Player of the Week

- SMSU's setter, Megan Larson, and outside hitter, Taylor Reiss, were named NSIC Setter of the Week and Offensive Player of the Week respectively after their performances in the Colorado Premier

- This marks the first time this season that an SMSU player has received Player of the Week/ Setter of the Week honors

- Mustangs volleyball players were recognized with NSIC Player/ Setter of the Week honors on five different occasions in 2016

- Larson was named Setter of the Week in two consecutive weeks in 2016

- Reiss received NSIC Offensive Player of the Week on two separate occasions in 2016


Mustangs in the National Spotlight

- SMSU took over the No. 1 ranking in the nation this week for the first time since 2012

- SMSU has been ranked in the AVCA's Top-25 for 150 consecutive polls and has made it into the nation's Top-10 teams for 54 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


To Be the Best; Beat the Best

- SMSU has started the year 5-0 against ranked opponents including all four wins last week in the Colo. Premier

- SMSU is scheduled to face another two top-25 opponents this week as they take on No. 9 Augustana and No. 17 Wayne State

-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 went 11-6 in 17 total matches against nationally ranked opponents in 2016

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

- The Mustangs will face No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul again on Oct. 28 in Marshall


SMSU Conference Openers

- SMSU has won 3 of its last 4 four conference openers

- The Mustangs are 8-5 under head coach Terry Culhane in conference openers

- SMSU lost last season's confernece opener to Augustana in five sets


SMSU Home Openers

- SMSU has gone 10-7 in home openers since 2000

- The Mustangs have lost the last two home openers after winning the previous five in a row from 2010-14

- SMSU lost last season's home opener to Augustana in five sets


New Mustang Faces

- Freshman middle blocker, Sarina Smith, had 14 kills in the Mustangs win over No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul and now has double digit kills in four matches this season

- Smith averaged 3.07 kills per set and had 17 total blocks last weekend

- Freshman libero, Payton Hjerleid, averaged 2.86 digs per set in the Colo. Premier and also added 10 service aces while playing in all 14 sets over the weekend


SMSU in the Colorado Premier Challenge

- SMSU made its fifth straight trip to the Colorado Premier Challenge last weekend and eighth overall

- SMSU captured the program's first ever championship in the Colo. Premier with a 3-1 win over No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul in the championship match on Saturday night in a rematch of the 2016 championship match

- The Mustangs were a part of four way tie for first place with Concordia-St. Paul, Tampa and Minnesota Duluth back in 2014

- SMSU has three runner-up finishes and have finished third on two separate occasions

- SMSU has had 20 players named to the Colo. Premier all-tourney team

- Taylor Reiss was named the Colo. Premier Tournament MVP while Megan Larson was also named to this year's all-tournament team