THIS WEEK

-The Mustangs return home, looking to add to their 4-0 start to October, hosting MSU Moorhead and Northern State.

-SMSU face the Dragons at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 14, and the Wolves on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m.

    LAST TIME OUT 

-The Mustangs went 2-0 last weekend, defeating Minot State and UMary on the road.

-SMSU survived a scare Friday night, defeating Minot State 17-25, 25-18, 25-16, 26-28, 15-12, led by Meg Schmidt's career-high 31 kills

-The Mustangs wrapped up their weekend on a high note, getting past the University of Mary 25-23, 25-16, 31-29 on Saturday afternoon.

     ABOUT SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE   

-The Mustangs opened the season with 11 straight victories, tying last years club for the second longest streak to start a season in program history.

-Saari Kuehl leads the Mustangs with 204 kills, while Emma VanHeel has contributed 190 kills, and Meg Schmidt has recorded 166 kills.

-Schmidt has been on fire as of late, recording 4.09 (90 total) blocks per set in the last five matches. 

-Karli Arkell has made a great adjustment to the college game, recording 145 kills on a .324 hitting percentage. 

-Alisa Bengen has done a little of everything from the setter position, dishing out 746 assists, 126 digs, 77 kills, and 19 blocks.

-The defense is anchored by McKenzie Tolk and Natalee Rolbiecki, a pair of freshmen from Minneota who lead the team with 203 digs and 191 digs, respectively.

-Arkell and VanHeel have held down the front line defensively, recording 69 and 65 blocks, respectively.

     MUSTANGS ON THE LEADERBOARDS

-SMSU can be found all over the NCAA DII Leaderboard

-The Mustangs attack ranks 13th in the nation in kills per set (14.01), and 16th in assists per set (12.80)

-The offense has also been powered by the 17th best hitting percentage in the nation (.267)

-The defense has also been a strength thanks to the 53rd most blocks per set (2.14) in the country.

-Senior Alisa Bengen has been the offensive catalyst, ranking 17th in the nation with 10.77 assists per set. 

-Freshman Karli Arkell has been efficient offensively, ranking 94th in the country with a .324 hitting percentage. 

-Arkell and sophomore Emma VanHeel have been tough on the front line, ranking 62nd (69), and 89th (65) in total blocks.

    THE TYLER BODDY FILES  

-Tyler Boddy is in his first season as head coach at Southwest Minnesota State University after being named to the position on Dec. 17, 2021.

-He won 11 straight matches to begin his career, the most in Mustang history.

-Boddy, who has spent the past 10 years as an assistant coach at SMSU, becomes the fifth head coach in the program's 50-year history.

-Boddy joined the SMSU coaching staff in 2012 and since that time the program has appeared in seven NCAA tournaments, including finishing as NCAA national runners-up in 2014. SMSU has a combined record of 225-64 during his tenure which includes two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season titles and two NSIC tournament championships.

-Since joining the staff, Boddy has recruited or coached 37 All-NSIC honorees, 16 AVCA All-Americans, a three-time NSIC Player of the Year, a two-time AVCA National Player of the Year and three CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.

-For his efforts during his coaching career, Boddy was named a recipient of the Thirty Under 30 Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association in April of 2019. He was promoted to associate head coach in the summer of 2021.

-Boddy, a native of New Ulm, Minn., came to SMSU after spending two seasons (2010-11) as an assistant coach at Wisconsin-Oshkosh and one season (2009) at Ripon College. Boddy has also had a successful coaching career in club volleyball with his Southwest Minnesota Volleyball Club teams winning national championships in 2014 and 2018.

-Boddy, a 2012 graduate of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, lives in Marshall with his wife, Alex, sons, Bronx and Wilke, and daughter, Rowan.

    SERIES HISTORY

-SMSU and MSU Moorhead will meet for the 113th time, with the Mustangs leading the series 66-46.

-Their first meeting came in 1975, and their most recent meeting came in October of 2021, which resulted in a three-set road victory for the Mustangs.

-The Mustangs have won the last 17 sets, and the last 21 matches between the two clubs. 

-SMSU is 25-17 all-time at home against MSUM.

-SMSU will match up with Northern State for the 73rd time, with SMSU defeating the Northern State 61 of 72 meetings.

-The first meeting was in 1978 and the last meeting occurred last October with the Wolves won in five sets.

-SMSU has not lost a home match against the Wolves since 2002.

-SMSU is 26-2 all-time in Marshall against NSU.

    SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS  

-After a 3-0 week with wins over Sioux Falls, Minot State, and UMary, the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team jumped one spot, returning to No. 7 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Poll released on Monday afternoon.

-The Mustangs are one of five NSIC schools ranked in the AVCA Top 25 with Wayne State continuing its reign as the unanimous No. 1. Concordia-St. Paul hangs in at No. 3, while Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State each jumped one spot, moving to No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. 

    MSU MOORHEAD PREVIEW

2022 Record: 5-14, 2-9 NSIC

Head Coach: Bob Jones, 2nd season

Mascot: Dragons

NSIC Preseason Rank: 12th

MSU Moorhead Notes

-The Dragons went 0-2 last weekend, getting swept by Augustana and Wayne State.

-MSUM is led by Bridget Witzmann, whose 211 kills lead the team, and Macie Wieman, who has started the season with 260 digs.  

    NORTHERN STATE PREVIEW

2022 Record: 11-8, 6-5 NSIC

Head Coach: Brent Aldridge, 12th season

Mascot: Wolves

NSIC Preseason Rank: t5th

Northern State Notes

-The Wolves went 1-1 in the last weekend, getting swept by Wayne State on Friday and sweeping Augustana on Saturday.

-Sally Gaul leads the team with 226 kills, and Abby Brooks has led the defense with 68 blocks.

    KUEHL, BENGEN NAMED TO ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

-Saari Kuehl and Alisa Bengen were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Colorado School of Mines Classic Aug. 26-27.

-Kuehl led the Mustangs with 50 kills in four games, including a career-high 15 kills to help defeat Colorado Mesa.

-Bengen had a career weekend, recording 165 assists, including a career-high 57 assists against Mesa, and picked up a career-high 10 kills while hitting .833 in a win over Colorado School of Mines

-Also deserving of recognition, Halle Jansen closed the weekend with 45 kills on a .346 hitting percentage, recording a career-high 16 kills against Mesa and 15 kills against Mines. 

-Emma VanHeel collected 48 kills on a .263 hitting percentage topped her previous career-high of 12 kills twice, first with a 14 kill match against Mesa before a 14 kill effort against Mines, while also tallying 20 blocks on the weekend, third most in the NSIC.

-Rounding out our impressive performances are three freshmen, Karli Arkell, McKenzie Tolk, and Natalee Rolbiecki.

-Arkell had 14 kills in the Mesa victory, Tolk led the team with 41 digs, including a pair of double digit dig performances, and Rolbiecki had 39 digs, including a team-high 17 against Colorado Christian. 

    SMSU TABBED SEVENTH IN NSIC PRESEASON POLL

-The Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team was picked to finish seventh in the annual 16-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll

-Concordia-St. Paul was selected as the preseason favorites to win the conference earning 217 points and nine first place votes (coaches can't vote for their own school). Defending NSIC regular season and tournament champion, St. Cloud State, earned 213 points and the remaining seven first place votes to finish in second place, followed by Wayne State with 189 points, Augustana with 179 points, while Minnesota Duluth and Northern State tied for fifth place with 149 points. SMSU rounded out the top seven earning 146 points.

    2022 OUTLOOK

-The Mustangs look to reach the NSIC tournament for the second consecutive season, returning eight letter winners and adding seven freshmen.

-Senior right-side hitter Meg Schmidt earned All-NSIC first team and AVCA All-American honorable mention accolades in 2021 after ranking second on the squad with 334 kills, while hitting a team-high .304. She finished among top three on the team in kills (334), points (409.5), assists (129), service aces (32) and blocks (64) a season ago.

-Sophomore middle blockers Emma VanHeel and Katelyn Nichols look to build off strong freshman campaigns that saw them finish third and fourth in kills, respectively, and top two on the team in blocks.

-Senior setter Alisa Bengen also returns after ranking first on the squad with 707 assists a season ago, while senior libero/defensive specialist Rachel Fink will look to anchor the defense after collecting 195 digs a season ago while also finishing with a team-high 43 service aces.

-Sophomore outside hitter Halle Jansen played in all 29 matches last season, finishing fifth on the team in kills with 92 and in blocks with 27.

    ON THE HORIZON

-SMSU heads to Sioux Falls, S.D., for a meeting with Augustana at 6 p.m., on Thursday before returning home to host No. 1-ranked Wayne State on Saturday at 2 p.m.