MARSHALL, Minn. –The Southwest Minnesota State women's volleyball team (17-7, 12-4 NSIC) hosts No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul (21-4, 15-1 NSIC) on Friday at 6 p.m. for Senior Night and Minnesota State (16-8, 9-7 NSIC) on Saturday at 2 p.m. for Parents' Day in the PE Gym.
SMSU Notes
SMSU (17-7, 12-4) ranked sixth in the first NCAA Division II Central Region rankings released Wednesday afternoon. SMSU has a 17-7 record versus Division II opponents and a 13-5 record versus in-region opponents.
SNSU went 2-0 last week in NSIC matches after opening the weekend with a sweep over MSU Moorhead (25-19, 25-11, 25-17), where Reiss led the match with 20 kills, no errors, a .513 hitting percentage. Reiss earned seven service aces, the first time since Mustang volleyball player, Jenna Otto, against Northern State on Sept. 18, 2004.
Southwest Minnesota State took down the No. 1 Northern State to close the weekend in three straight sets (30-28, 25-22, 25-17).
Taylor Reiss, led the match with 29 kills to total 1,991 career kills. Reiss hit .448 with seven digs.
Sarina Smith earned 11 kills with a .476 hitting percentage while
Angela Young added 13 kills.
Emma Thomssen recorded 54 assists and seven digs to aid the Mustangs' 3-0 victory
Emma Thomssen earned NSIC Setter of the Week, her second time this season, after pacing the Mustang offensive with an NSIC best .357 hitting percentage last week and an NSIC best 16.00 assists per set last week. She recorded 96 assists in two matches, 54 of which were against No. 1 Northern State. Against Northern State, SMSU recorded a .349 hitting percentage.
Taylor Reiss earned NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week and her third time this season. Reiss also earned AVCA National Player of the Week, the only player to earn this award five times. Last week, Reiss recorded 49 kills with 8.17 kills per set, only three errors off 97 swings for a .474 hitting percentage, 20 kills against MSU Moorhead, and 29 against top-ranked Northern. Reiss has a .327 season hitting percentage with 5.85 kills per set average. Reiss is nine kills shy of achieving 2,000 career kills, the second player in all-time history to do so. Reiss enters weekend play with 1,991 kills after last weekends' performance.
Concordia-St. Paul Notes
The Golden Bears enter the match with a seven-match winning streak which started on Oct. 5 with a 3-0 victory over UMary. CSP's only conference loss was dealt by Northern State in a five-set loss on Sept. 28. Golden Bears are led by Brooklyn Lewis with 344 with 3.87 kills per set and a .348 hitting percentage, followed by Sara Macek with 282 kills and a .418 hitting percentage, and 275 kills. Elizabeth Mohr has recorded 1,177 assists and 13.22 assists per set. Tori Hanson leads the Golden Bear defense with 412 digs. Mohr is the national leader in assists per set with 13.21 and total assists (1,176), and Macek is the national leader in hitting percentage (.415). CSP leads the division in assists per set (14.49), kills per set (15.24), team assists (1,290), and team kills (1,356).
CSP Series History
SMSU and CSP meet for the third time this season. The Mustangs are 0-2 after a sweep at the Colorado Premier Challenge in the championship match and a five-set loss on Sept. 22. The Mustangs trail 26-36 in the all-time series dating back to 1972. SMSU's last victory occurred on Nov. 19, 2017, at the NSIC Conference Tournament. SMSU opened the series with a 19-match winning streak.
Minnesota State Notes
The Mavericks defeated St. Cloud State in five-sets in their last match on Oct. 20. MSU is led by Morgan Olson with 390 kills with a 4.38 kills per set average and a .391 hitting percentage. Alivia Garbe adds 277 kills and Anissa Janzig with 141 kills. Mara Quam is the reigning NSIC Defensive Player of the Week with 441 digs with 4.96 digs per set.
MSU Series History
MSU leads the all-time series at 31-26. The Mustangs longest winning streak was nine consecutive wins from 2009 to 2013. The last time the Mustangs lost was 3-1 on Oct. 25, 2014, at Minnesota State. SMSU has won 14 of the last 15 matches against MSU. SMSU defeated MSU 3-1 in the previous match this season on Sept. 21.
This weekend marks Southwest Minnesota State's final home matches of the season. SMSU finishes the regular season next weekend at Upper Iowa and Winona State before the NSIC Conference tournament begins on Nov. 6.
