MARSHALL, Minn.- As Southwest Minnesota State gets set to celebrate it's 50th Anniversary as an institution this homecoming weekend, the No. 1 ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (13-0, 5-0 NSIC) prepares to host its annual Alumni Weekend with NSIC matches against St. Cloud State (10-4, 3-2 NSIC) and No. 6 Minnesota Duluth (12-1, 5-0 NSIC) set for Friday night and Saturday afternoon 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 remains at No. 1 for a third straight week 

- The Mustangs' 13-0 start is the best start to season in school history

- SMSU's 13 consecutive wins to start the year is the fourth longest win streak overall in program history

- Last weekend concluded a stretch of 12 of 13 matches at road/ neutral sites to begin the season (SMSU went 12-0 in those contests)

- Taylor Reiss enters the weekend just 12 kills shy of moving into the top-10 in career kills in SMSU history

- SMSU has won 23 of 24 matches against St. Cloud State

- Saturday marks the first time since 2010 that SMSU has played UMD with Minnesota Duluth outside the AVCA Top-5


St. Cloud State: Match Preview

    Series History

- SMSU leads the all-time series 24-18

- The Mustangs have held an 18-1 record over St. Cloud State since Head Coach, Terry Culhane, took over the program in 2004

- SMSU has won 23 of the last 24 matches between the two dating back to 2000

- SMSU is 12-8 against St. Cloud State at home in Marshall

- The Mustangs hold a 12-6 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

    St. Cloud State Team Notes

- Overall Record: 10-4

- Road Record: 2-2

- Current Streak: Won 1

- St. Cloud State went 1-2 last week with all three matches coming against ranked opponents

- The 3-0 sweep of Wayne State was the first win over a ranked opponent since Chad Braegelmann was named head coach three years ago

- The win over Wayne State was the seventh sweep of the 2017 season for St. Cloud State

- The program only recorded seven sweep in the past two years combined

- St. Cloud State had 118 kills, 115 assists, 12 service aces, 194 digs and 15 blocks as a team last week 

- Nicole Miller led the team in kills last week with 28 (2.80 per set)

- Marah Mulso picked up 24 kills and hit .259 in three matches last week

- Abby Templin hit .266 with 22 kills last week

- Clara Krenz recorded 70 digs last week (7.0 per set)


Minnesota Duluth: Match Preview
    Series History

- Minnesota Duluth leads the all-time series, 64-17

- UMD has held a top-5 national ranking in the last 12 matches dating back to 2011 against SMSU including a No. 1 ranking in the previous two matches (SMSU is 5-7 against UMD over that stretch)

- SMSU has won 2 of 3 matches against UMD including a 3-2 win over No. 1 Minnesota Duluth in 2015 and a 3-1 win in the 2014 NCAA Central Region Tournament

- The Mustangs are 9-22 all-time in home games against Minnesota Duluth and 11-47 all-time in conference matches

- No. 1 UMD swept last season's regular season matchup in Duluth

    Minnesota Duluth Team Notes

- Overall Record: 12-1

- Road Record: 1-0

- Current Streak: Won 9

- Minnesota Duluth will play at Sioux Falls on Friday night before making the trip to Marshall

- Minnesota Duluth hits the road after a stretch of three straight home matches

- The Bulldogs lead the nation with a .342 hitting percentage and 15.88 kills per set after attacking at a .343 clip and 16.0 kills per set last week

- Sarah Kelly posted 42 kills on a .434 hitting percentage. She matched her career-best with 18 kills vs No. 12 Augustana

- Makenzie Morgen recorded a double-double in each contest last week bringing her total to seven. Had 3.91 kills/set and 3.55 digs/set

- Allison Olley had 27 kills (2.43 kills per set) and had 14 total blocks last week

- Emily Torve averaged 12.4 assists per set and conducted the team hitting .342 for the week

- Keena Seiffert posted 4.00 digs per set and grabbed a career-high 18 digs twice


Dominant Defense

- SMSU held its three opponents to a combined .089 attack percentage last week and have held four opponents under a .100 attack percentage already this year

- The Mustangs are second in the NSIC in opponent attack percentage (.132) through two weeks of conference play (rankings include conference matches only)


NCAA Statistical Rankings

Highlights of the latest NCAA Statistical Rankings Update (9/25):

- SMSU was one of just 6 remaining unbeaten teams in Division II

- The Mustangs are third in the nation in kills per set (15.30)

- SMSU is fifth in the country in assists per set (14.11) and ninth in hitting percentage (.274)

- Megan Larson is fourth in Division II in assists per set (12.45), Taylor Reiss is seventh in points per set (5.13), and Brooke Borchardt is eighth in attack percentage (.432)


NSIC Statistical Rankings

Highlights of the latest NSIC Statistical Rankings Update (9/25):

- SMSU is one of just four remaining teams without a loss through the first two weeks of conference play

- SMSU is ranked third in the NSIC in attack pct (.299) and second in opponent hitting percentage (.132)

- Taylor Reiss leads the conference in kills per set (4.72)

- Megan Larson is second in the conference in assists per set (12.56)

- Brooke Borchardt is fourth in hitting percentage (.449)


Mustangs Quick out of the Gates

- SMSU is off to its best start in school history after winning its first 13 matches of the year

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

- The Mustangs are already 7-0 over ranked opponents and have swept six of their first 13 matches

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

- The Mustangs' 13-match win streak is its fourth longest win streak overall in program history


Home Sweet Home

- SMSU will finally stay home to play a pair of matches in Marshall this weekend after a stretch of 12 of 13 matches in road/ neutral sites to open the season

- SMSU is a perfect 12-0 in road/ neutral matches so far including a perfect 5-0 in true road matches and a 5-0 start in road NSIC contests

- The Mustangs hold a 307-150 all-time record in the PE Gym including a 10-1 home record in 2016


New Mustang Faces

- True freshman, Sarina Smith, is currently fourth on the team with 105 total kills (2.33 k/set)

- Smith is second on the team with 40 total blocks and tied for the team lead with .89 blocks per set

- Junior transfer, Dani Potter, averaged 3.2 digs per set last week

- Freshman libero, Payton Hjerleid, leads the Mustangs this season with 22 service aces


Block Party

- With the Mustangs' season high 13 total blocks as a team 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)


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 12 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


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 Mustangs' 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


Mustangs in the National Spotlight

- SMSU remain the top ranked team in the nation for a third straight this week after taking over the top spot on Sept. 11 for the first time since 2012

- SMSU has been ranked in the AVCA's Top-25 for 152 consecutive polls and has made it into the nation's Top-10 teams for 56 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 7-0 against ranked opponents including a stretch of six straight matches against ranked opponents

- SMSU defeated two more top-25 opponents to open NSIC play as they beat No. 9 Augustana and No. 17 Wayne State earlier this month

-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