LEXINGTON, Ky.- No. 1 Southwest Minnesota State remains the nation's top ranked Division II volleyball team according to the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 Poll that was released on Monday afternoon.

The Mustangs (13-0) are off to the best start in school history and are in the midst of a 13-match winning streak which is the fourth longest win streak in the program's history.

SMSU is now ranked No. 1 for a third straight week after taking over the top spot in the Sept. 11 coaches' poll.

SMSU garnered 47 first place votes in this week's poll coming off of a 2-0 weekend with road NSIC wins over Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston.

No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (12-1) and No. 6 (12-1) Minnesota Duluth were the only other NSIC schools to crack this week's top-10.

No. 13 Winona State (9-4) dropped four places from last week's poll while No. 14 Northern State (12-1)  moved up five spots into its highest ranking of the season so far.  No. 17 Augustana (9-5) and No. 22  Wayne State (7-6) made it seven total NSIC schools in this week's top-25 while Upper Iowa also received votes for a third straight week.

The Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 152 consecutive polls, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006, and have made it into the Top 10 for 56 consecutive polls.

SMSU has started the season 7-0 against the AVCA Top-25 including a stretch of six straight matches against ranked opponents.

Southwest Minnesota State will host a pair of NSIC matches this weekend beginning with a match against St. Cloud State on Friday night at 6 p.m., followed by Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at 2 p.m., in the PE Gym.