MARSHALL, Minn.- Southwest Minnesota State's women's volleyball team (4-0) will look to stay perfect this weekend as they travel to Denver Colo., for another weekend of tough competition in the annual Colorado Premier Challenge with matches against No. 20 Tampa and No. 8 Ferris State scheduled for Friday at 12 p.m., and 7 p.m. respectively.
 

SMSU Quick Hits

- SMSU remained at 2nd in the latest AVCA top-25 poll

- SMSU went 4-0 in the Hampton Inn-Vitational and had four players named to the all-tournament team 

- The Mustangs will compete in the Colorado Premier Challenge and hold an all-time record of 23-9 

- Senior MB Brooke Borchardt led all players at the Hampton Inn-Vitational in blocks and set several career highs in the process 

- Taylor Reiss is just 48 kills from reaching career kill number 1,000 

- Megan Larson moved into second all-time in career assists in the Mustangs' win over West Florida

- SMSU faces two ranked opponents to kickoff the always competitive Colorado Premier Challenge


Tampa: Match Preview

    Series History

- Series is tied 3-3

- SMSU won 3-1 back in 2015 in CO Premier Challenge

- Tampa defeated SMSU 3-0 in 2014 DII National Championship

- SMSU leads 3-1 all-time in games played in CO Premier Challenge

    Tampa Team Notes

- Tampa went 2-2 in "Terrace Hotel Classic" last weekend in Tampa, Fla.

- The Spartans were swept by Central Washington and lost in five sets to top ranked Concordia-St. Paul

- Tampa swept both New Haven and Pace in the first weekend of the season


Ferris State: Match Preview
    Series History

- Ferris State leads the all-time series 2-0

- Ferris State won the last meeting, 3-1 which was also played at the Colorado Premier Challenge in 2015

- Both previous matches were also played on neutral sites

    Ferris State Team Notes

- Ferris State hosted the "Bulldog Open" in Big Rapids, Mich., last weekend to open the 2017 season

- Ferris State defeated Mo. Western State, Northwest Missouri St., Quincy, and Cedarville last weekend

- The Bulldogs moved up six spots from No. 14 to No. 8 in the AVCA Top-25 after last week's 4-0 start


Colorado Premier Challenge

- The Mustangs will travel to Denver, Colo., to compete in one of the most competitive DII non-conference tournaments in the country this weekend

- The tournament is once again jointly hosted by both Metro State University of Denver as well Regis University

- Teams will compete in pool play on day one before being divided into "bronze", "silver", and "gold" brackets on Saturday culminating with a championship match on Saturday night

- Pool finishes are decided by the following procedures/ tie breakers

    1. Matches won/lost

    2. Games won % (games won divided by total played)

    3. Points won % (points won divided by total points scored)

    4. Coin flip

- Conference opponents are split into different brackets whenever possible including the final round (fourth match) with the exception of the championship match

- This year's 12-team field features eight teams that were ranked in the latest AVCA Top-25 as well as three other teams that received votes

- Below is a breakdown of this year's pool selection:

    - Pool 1: Concordia-St. Paul, Lewis, West Florida

    - Pool 2: Central Mo., Regis, Tarleton State

    - Pool 3: SMSU, Ferris State, Tampa

    - Pool 4: Florida Southern, MSU Denver, Angelo State

- Live stats and live video will be available for both days with live video coverage limited to one court per host site (links can be found from smsumustangs.com or tounament website)


SMSU in the Colorado Premier Challenge

- SMSU will make the trip out west to compete in the Colorado Premier Challenge for a fifth straight year and for the eighth time overall

- The Mustangs have an all-time record of 23-9 in the non-conference invitational

- 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 including last season where they fell to Concordia-St. Paul in the championship match

- The Mustangs have finished 3rd on two separate occasions

- SMSU has 18 players named to the Colo. Premier all-tourney team

- The Mustangs didn't drop a set in their first three matches in 2016 as they dispatched Colorado School of Mines, West Florida, and Angelo State to advance to the championship match

- Taylor Reiss, Megan Larson, Eisha Oden, and Sarah Parker were named to the 2016 Colo. Premier All-Tournament team


Borchardt Answers the Bell

- Mustangs' senior middle blocker Brooke Borchardt saw limited action in her first three seasons at SMSU but stepped up to lead a young team in the first weekend of 2017

- Borchardt led SMSU with a .422 hitting percentage, had 43 total kills, and had 1.27 blk/set in the season opening Hampton Inn-Vitational

- Borchardt set career highs in kills (13) and attacks (24), blocks (8) and block assists (8), as well as attack percentage (.391, 13-4-23) last weekend in Pensacola

- Her eight total blocks vs. North Alabama made her the first SMSU player since Taylor Reiss in 2015 with eight or more blocks in a match


Hampton Inn-Vitational All-Tourney

- After their 4-0 weekend in Pensacola, four Mustangs earned all-tournament honors

- Taylor Reiss was named the tournament MVP

- Reiss, Megan Larson, Kaylee Burmeister, and Brooke Borchardt were selected to the all-tournament team


Mustang Season Openers

- SMSU has now won 14 of its last 15 season opening matches overall

- The Mustangs defeated North Alabama, 3-1 to open the season with a win for a third straight year

- SMSU is 45-10 (.818) overall on season opening weekends since Head Coach Terry Culhane took over in 2004

- The Mustangs also opened the 2015 season in Pensacola, Fla., and went 4-0 in UWF's season opening invitational to start that year


New Mustang Faces

- Sarina Smith played in 13 sets last week and had 21 kills

- Payton Hjerleid played in all 15 sets last week and had 2.8 digs/set

- Caedyn Reinhardt had 14 kills and nine toal blocks last weekend


Larson: Setting the Bar High

- Megan Larson had 45 assists and moved into second all-time in career assists in SMSU's win over West Florida

- 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 History

- Reiss averaged 5.0 k/set in the first weekend of the year finishing with 75 kills through four matches

- Reiss is also closing in on 1,000 career kills and currently sits at 952 after four matches


To Be the Best; Beat the Best

- SMSU begins the year 1-0 against the nation's top-25 after beating No. 11 Wheeling Jesuit, 3-1

- The Mustangs face another year of stiff competition as the AVCA Preseason Poll featured five total NSIC schools in the nation's Top-10

- SMSU is scheduled to face at least two top-25 opponents this week as they play No. 20 Tampa and No. 8 Ferris State on Friday

-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 will host top-ranked and defending National Champions, Concordia-St. Paul on Sat., Oct. 28, at 2 p.m., after four total meetings with the Golden Bears last season


Mustangs in the National Spotlight

- SMSU was ranked 2nd in this week's AVCA's Top-25 Coaches' Poll

- SMSU has been ranked in the AVCA's Top-25 for 149 consecutive polls and has made it into the nation's Top-10 teams for 53 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

- SMSU was ranked in the Top-5 in all 14 polls last season