MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (5-3, 0-0) opens conference play this Thursday in its home opener versus Augustana (5-3, 0-0) in the PE Gym at 6 p.m. for SMSU's annual "white out" game.
SMSU finished in second-place at the Colorado Premier Challenge this past weekend after going undefeated until the championship match and getting swept by Concordia St-Paul. SMSU heads into conference play ranked No. 7 in the latest AVCA Top-25 poll, which is one spot higher than last week. SMSU is the fifth NSIC school to rank in the top-25. Concordia-St. Paul leads the way ranked No. 2, Northern State ranked No. 3, Minnesota Duluth ranked No. 6, Southwest Minnesota State coming in at No. 7, and Wayne State coming in as No. 19.
In the first eight games of the season,
Taylor Reiss passed Brooke Burmeister as sixth all-time kill leader with 1590 (.310) and Reiss also moved up to sixth as all-time point leader with 1805.5 (1590 kills, 75 assists, 48 solo blocks, and 185 block assists). Reiss was named MVP of the West Florida Invitational.
In her first year as setter,
Emma Thomssen as received all-tournament honors at the West Florida Invitational. She set a career-high 54 assist vs Wheeling Jesuit in that same tournament. She tied that career-high a week later at the Colorado Premier Challenge recording 54 assists against Colorado Christian on Aug. 31.
Opponent at a glance
AUGUSTANA – Augustana entered the season ranked 23rd in the AVCA preseason poll and sixth in the NSIC. This is the second year for head coach, Jennifer Jacobs, with the 5-3 Vikings. In her first season, the Vikings went 23-9. Courtney Place returns as a key offense scoring 449 kills last season, ranked third in NSIC. Payton Rosendahl, right side hitter, played in 29 matches last season and had 155 kills. Place was named to the all-tournament team at the Augustana Invitational last weekend. She had 63 kills over four matches, 15.75 kills per match, eight blocks, four assists, four aces, and 16 digs. Vikings finished 2-2 at the Invitational with wins against MSU Moorhead and Fort Hays State.
Series history
?The Mustangs lead the nearly tied series 32-31-1, dating back to 1972. In the conference, Mustangs lead 10-2. Mustangs are 16-15 at home and 9-14-1 away, and 7-2 at neutral sites. The Mustangs won in five sets in the last meeting on Nov. 18, 2017 in the NSIC Tournament.
Since 2000, SMSU is 11-6 in home openers winning seven of its previous eight. The Mustangs won last season's home opener to Wayne State, 3-0.
Southwest Minnesota State continues conference play on Saturday as the team travels to Wayne State for a match beginning at 1 p.m.
