MARSHALL, Minn.- No. 1 Southwest Minnesota State will look to improve on its program best, 11-0 start to the 2017 season as it makes its first weekend-long road trip on its NSIC schedule with matches at Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston this Friday and Saturday respectively.


SMSU Quick Hits

- SMSU took over the No. 1 ranking in the country for the first time since 2012 in last week's AVCA top-25 poll and remained at No. 1 for a second straight week this week 

- The Mustangs' 11-0 start to the year is the best start to season in school history

- SMSU's 11 consecutive wins to start the year ties for the fifth longest win streak in program history

- The two matches this weekend will conclude a stretch of 12 of 13 matches at road/ neutral sites to begin the season (SMSU is 10-0 so far in those matches)

- Taylor Reiss enters the weekend just 37 kills shy of moving into the top-10 in career kills in SMSU history

- SMSU has not lost to either Bemidji State or Minnesota Crookston since the 2003 season


Bemidji State: Match Preview (Sept. 22, 6 p.m.)

    Series History

- SMSU owns a commanding 62-30 record against Bemidji State

- The Mustangs have won 23 straight matches over Bemidji State dating back to the 2003 season

- SMSU owns a 48-18 record over the Beavers in conference matches

- In the Mustangs have lost just one set in the past seven matches against Bemidji State

- SMSU swept the only meeting between the two teams last year in Marshall

    Bemidji State Team Notes

- Overall Record: 3-8

- Home Record: 0-1

- Current Streak: Lost 4

- The Beavers are coming off of a 3-2 loss on Tuesday night at Crookston

- The Beavers went 0-2 to start conference play last weekend

- BSU opened NSIC action falling to St. Cloud State, 3-1, on the road

- The Beavers lost their home opener last weekend, falling to No. 7 UMD, 3-0

- The Beavers will host Sioux Falls on Saturday to close out their second week of conference play 

- Junior Maddie Filipiak led the team last week by tallying 14 kills (2.00/s) over two matches and tied a career-high with eight kills and hit .412 against SCSU

- Junior Jessica Reega led BSU last weekend by hitting at a .385 efficiency and tallied 13 kills

- Emma Halllmann led the team last week with 26 digs (3.71/s) while Filipiak also led the team by tallying nine blocks (5s-4a)


Minnesota Crookston: Match Preview (Sept. 23, 2 p.m.)
    Series History

- SMSU has lost just one match in program history to Minnesota Crookston which came back in 2003

- Since the Mustangs' only loss to Minnesota Crookston in 2003, SMSU has reeled off 22 straight wins over the Golden Eagles

- The Mustangs have swept three of the last four matches against Minnesota Crookston

- SMSU is 29-1 in conference matches against Minnesota Crookston and holds a 14-1 record on the road in Crookston

    Minnesota Crookston Team Notes

- Overall Record: 4-7

- Home Record: 1-1

- Current Streak: Won 1

- Minnesota Crookston fell behind 2-1 in Tuesday night's match against Bemidji State but won a tight fourth set and won 15-9 in the fifth to earn the 3-2 win

- The Golden Eagles' Tuesday night win snapped a four match losing streak entering the week

- Minnesota Crookston has a total of 13 players returning this year from a team that finished 10-18 last season

- Kelci Green notched 12 kills and hit .545 on the match with no errors against St. Cloud State

- Callie Schapekahm notched seven kills and hit .467 with no errors versus St. Cloud State

- Becca Vandenheuvel tallied 12 digs versus St. Cloud State


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 (334/620) so far this season and 40 percent of the team's total digs (283/ 699)

- Burmeister had 17 kills and 15 digs on Tuesday in the Mustangs' win over USF and notched a season high 21 kills with 19 digs last week at Augustana

- Reiss has already posted 20-plus kills in four matches this season including a 20-20 match with 23 kills and 21 digs at Augustana


Mustangs Quick out of the Gates

- SMSU is off to its best start in school history after winning its first 11 matches of the year

- The Mustangs are already 7-0 over ranked opponents and have swept four of their ten 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

- The Mustangs' 11-match win streak ties its fifth longest win streak in program history


On the Road Again

- SMSU heads north this weekend as they take on two more NSIC opponents away from the PE Gym

- The Mustangs' upcoming road trip will wrap up a stretch of 12 out of 13 matches in road/ neutral locations to open the 2017 season

- SMSU is 10-0 in road/ neutral matches so far including a perfect 3-0 in true road matches and a 2-0 start in road NSIC contests

- SMSU went 9-4 in true road matches during the 2016 season


NCAA Statistical Rankings

Highlights of the latest NCAA Statistical Rankings Update (9/18) :

- SMSU was one of just 10 remaining unbeaten teams in Division II

- Megan Larson was third in assists per set (12.32) and total assists (359)

- Taylor Reiss was ninth in total kills (168) and kills per set (4.54), and fourth in attacks per set (13.49)


New Mustang Faces

- Freshman middle blocker, Sarina Smith, had 15 total kills last weekend against Augustana and Wayne State

- Smith added nine kills, seven block assists and one solo block at USF

- Junior transfer, Dani Potter, had 10 digs in the Mustangs' win at USF

- Freshman libero, Payton Hjerleid, averaged 2.25 digs per set over last weekend and added five service aces for SMSU


To Be the Best; Beat the Best

- SMSU has started the year 7-0 against ranked opponents including its last six straight wins

- SMSU defeated two more top-25 opponents last week as they beat No. 9 Augustana and No. 17 Wayne State to open NSIC play (9 of 16 NSIC school received votes in this week's AVCA Top-25)

-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

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


Block Party

- With the Mustangs' season high 13 total blocks as a team on Tuesday night at Sioux Falls, SMSU has now had 10 plus blocks in six matches this season, one more than its season total in 2016

- SMSU had 11 matches in 2015 with double digit blocks as a team and 14 such matches back in 2014

- Sarina Smith reached eight total blocks in the Mustangs' win over Sioux Falls and became the second SMSU player to reach eight plus blocks in a match this year (Brooke Borchardt had eight blocks vs. North Alabama)

Mustangs in the National Spotlight

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

- SMSU has been ranked in the AVCA's Top-25 for 151 consecutive polls and has made it into the nation's Top-10 teams for 55 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