THIS WEEK

The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team 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.

    LAST TIME OUT 

The Mustangs went 2-0 last weekend, sweeping both MSU Moorhead and Northern State at home.

Alisa Bengen dished out a match-high 37 assists to pace the Mustangs and in the process became the 10th SMSU player to reach 2,000 career assists in Friday's 25-15, 27-25, 25-10 victory over MSU Moorhead.

The Mustangs won its sixth straight match with authority, claiming a 3-0 victory over Northern State on Saturday afternoon, 25-22, 27-17 and 25-22.

     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.

SMSU is ranked in the top five of the AVCA poll for the second week since the 2018 preseason poll.

Their 19 victories through 21 matches are the third most wins through 21 matches in program history. 

Saari Kuehl leads the Mustangs with 218 kills, while Emma VanHeel has contributed 207 kills, and Meg Schmidt has recorded 194 kills.

Schmidt has been on fire as of late, recording 4.21 (118 total) kills per set in the last seven matches. 

Karli Arkell has made a great adjustment to the college game, recording 155 kills on a .330 hitting percentage. 

Alisa Bengen has done a little of everything from the setter position, dishing out 816 assists, 136 digs, 83 kills, and 24 blocks.

The defense is anchored by Natalee Rolbiecki and McKenzie Tolk, a pair of freshmen from Minneota who lead the team with 224 digs and 201 digs, respectively.

Arkell and VanHeel have held down the front line defensively, recording 76 and 73 blocks, respectively.

     MUSTANGS ON THE LEADERBOARDS

SMSU can be found all over the NCAA DII Leaderboard

The Mustangs attack ranks 11th in the nation in kills per set (14.04), and 18th in assists per set (12.82)

The offense has also been powered by the 17th best hitting percentage in the nation (.268)

The defense has also been a strength thanks to the 43rd most blocks per set (2.18) in the country.

Senior Alisa Bengen has been the offensive catalyst, ranking 14th in the nation with 10.84 assists per set. 

Freshman Karli Arkell has been efficient offensively, ranking 86th in the country with a .330 hitting percentage. 

Arkell has also been tough on the front line, ranking 71st in blocks per set (1.04), and 77th in total blocks (76).

    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 Augustana will meet for the 69th time, with the Mustangs leading the series 34-33-1.

Their first meeting came in 1972, and their most recent meeting came in November of 2021, which resulted in a four-set home victory for the Vikings.

The Vikings have won two of the last three meetings, but have lost nine of the last ten meetings in Sioux Falls. 

SMSU is 9-14-1 all-time on the road.

SMSU will match up with Wayne State for the 62nd time, with the series evened up at 30-30-1.

The first meeting was in 1980 and the last meeting occurred last October with the Mustangs losing set one before taking the next three sets to win in four at home. 

SMSU has won eight of the last 10 meetings, but have lost two of the last three meetings.

SMSU is 15-7 all-time in Marshall against WSC.

    SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS  

After a pair of home sweeps against MSU Moorhead and Northern State, the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team jumped two spots, ranking No. 5 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 jumps one spot to No. 4 and St. Cloud State falls two spots to No. 7. 

    AUGUSTANA PREVIEW

2022 Record: 15-6, 7-6 NSIC

Head Coach: Jennifer Jacobs, 6th season

Mascot: Vikings

NSIC Preseason Rank: 4th

Augustana Notes

The Vikings went 2-0 last weekend, sweeping both Minot and Mary last weekend.

Augie is led by Maddy Guetter, whose 242 kills lead the team, and Erika Bute, who leads the conference with 381 digs.

    WAYNE STATE PREVIEW

2022 Record: 23-0, 13-0 NSIC

Head Coach: Scott Kneifl, 18th season

Mascot: Wildcats

NSIC Preseason Rank: 3rd

AVCA Rank: 1st (unanimous)

Wayne State Notes

The Wildcats went 2-0 last weekend, sweeping both Minot and Mary last weekend.

WSC has had three different players win NSIC Offensive Player of the Week, with Kelsie Cada coming into the weekend as the reigning recipient after recording 4.67 kills per set and hitting .400. The defense is led by Maggie Brahmer, who leads the conference with 93 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 prepares for another three game week, playing at Sioux Falls on Tuesday before hosting Concordia-St. Paul on Friday and Minnesota State on Saturday.