THIS WEEK

-SMSU travel to face Minot State and UMary over the weekend.  

-The Mustangs face the Beavers at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, and the Marauders on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 2 p.m.

    LAST TIME OUT 

-The Mustangs started their three-game week with a victory over Sioux Falls, 25-12, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17 on Tuesday night in the PE Gym.

-SMSU was led by the all-around play of Alisa Bengen, who totaled 37 assists, nine kills, nine digs, and three blocks while hitting .692 on the night. Saari Kuehl had a match-high 12 kills, while Meg Schmidt followed with 11 kills of her own. Emma VanHeel delivered nine kills and a match-high eight blocks, and Abby Meister held down the back line with 10 digs.

-The story of the match was at the service line, where the Mustangs picked up 11 aces and USF committed 10 service errors, and at the net, where SMSU out-blocked USF 12-5 and out-attacked the Cougars 54 kills-45 kills.

     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 185 kills, while Emma VanHeel has contributed 165 kills, and Halle Jansen has recorded 158 kills.

-Karli Arkell has adjusted to the college game already, recording 133 kills on a .339 hitting percentage. 

-Alisa Bengen has done a little of everything from the setter position, dishing out 659 assists, 113 digs, 72 kills, and 18 blocks.

-The defense is anchored by McKenzie Tolk and Natalee Rolbiecki, a pair of freshmen from Minneota who lead the team with 175 digs and 167 digs, respectively.

-VanHeel and Arkell have held down the front line defensively, recording 63 and 60 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 (13.95), and 18th in assists per set (12.68)

-The offense has also been powered by the 14th best hitting percentage in the nation (.270)

-The defense has also been a strength thanks to the 39th most blocks per set (2.10) in the country.

-Senior Alisa Bengen has been the offensive catalyst, ranking 19th in the nation with 10.58 assists per set. 

-Freshman Karli Arkell has been efficient offensively, ranking 63rd in the country with a .339 hitting percentage. 

-Arkell and sophomore Emma VanHeel have been tough on the front line, ranking 56th (63), and 88th (60) 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 Minot State will meet for the 13th time, with the Mustangs winning every meeting between the teams.

-Their first meeting came in 2012, and their most recent meeting came in October of 2021, which resulted in a three-set road victory for the Mustangs.

-The Mustangs have never lost a set to the Beavers 

-SMSU is 5-0 all-time in Minot.

-SMSU will match up with UMary for the 24th time, with SMSU defeating the Marauders in each match-up

-The first meeting was in 2006 and the last meeting occurred last October with the Mustangs winning in three sets.

-SMSU has won all but three sets in the 23 previous match-ups.

-SMSU is 9-0 all-time in Bismarck.

    SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS  

-After a pair of five-set thrillers, a loss to then-No. 9 Minnesota Duluth and a victory over then-No. 4 St. Cloud State, the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team dropped one spot to No. 8 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 leading the way as the unanimous No. 1. Concordia-St. Paul hangs in at No. 3, while Minnesota Duluth moved up three spots to No. 6, and St. Cloud State fell three spots to No. 7.

    MINOT STATE PREVIEW

2022 Record: 0-16, 0-9 NSIC

Head Coach: Alex Lehocky, 1st season

Mascot: Beavers

NSIC Preseason Rank: 16th

Minot State Notes

-The Beavers have gone 0-3 in the last week, getting swept by Minnesota State, Concordia-St. Paul, and UMary

-MiSU is led by Alexandra Koontz, whose 102 kills lead the team, and Viktoria Sedova, who has started the season with 122 digs.  

    UMARY PREVIEW

2022 Record: 3-14, 2-7 NSIC

Head Coach: Abby Pollart, 2nd season

Mascot: Marauders

NSIC Preseason Rank: 14th

UMary Notes

-The Marauders have gone 1-2 in the last weekend, getting swept by CSP and MSU over the weekend before sweeping Minot State on Tuesday. 

-Nehkyah Ellis leads the team with 140 kills, and Kaia Sueker has led the defense with 273 digs.

    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 returns home, hosting MSU Moorhead at 6 p.m., on Friday before welcoming Northern State to the PE Gym at 4 p.m., on Saturday.