THIS WEEK

-SMSU return home for a pair of matches against No. 9 Minnesota Duluth and No. 4 St. Cloud State.

-The Mustangs will take on the Bulldogs at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30, before facing the Huskies at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1.

    LAST WEEK  

-The Mustangs closed the weekend 2-0, defeating Minnesota State in five sets before being swept by then-No. 5 Concordia-St. Paul

-SMSU opened its weekend with authority, defeating Minnesota Crookston 25-14, 25-15, 25-11 on Saturday afternoon.

-The Mustangs closed the weekend in style, defeated Bemidji State 25-11, 25-19, 25-17 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 153 kills and 3.12 kills per set, with Emma VanHeel contributing 137 kills on a .302 hitting percentage, while Halle Jansen has recorded 134 kills.

-Karli Arkell has adjusted to the college game already, recording at least eight kills in 10 of 13 matches played.

-Alisa Bengen has done a little of everything from the setter position, dishing out 532 assists, 90 digs, 53 kills, and 12 blocks.

-The defense is anchored by McKenzie Tolk and Natalee Rolbiecki, a pair of freshmen from Minneota who lead the team with 156 digs and 141 digs, respectively.

-VanHeel and Arkell have held down the front line defensively, recording 48 and 43 blocks, respectively.

     MUSTANGS ON THE LEADERBOARDS

-SMSU can be found all over the NCAA DII Leaderboard

-The Mustangs rank fifth in the nation in both kills per set (14.41), and assists per set (13.16)

-The offense has also been powered by the 11th best hitting percentage in the nation (.276)

-The defense has also been a strength thanks to the 62nd most blocks per set (2.10) in the country.

-Senior Alisa Bengen has been the offensive catalyst, ranking 12th in the nation with 11.02 assists per set. 

-Freshman Karli Arkell has been efficient offensively, ranking 61st in the country with a .346 hitting percentage. 

-Sophomore Emma VanHeel has been tough on the front line, ranking 87th in blocks per set (1.00). 

    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 Minnesota Duluth will meet for the 90th time, with the Bulldogs leading the series 68-21.

-Their first meeting came in 1973, and their most recent meeting came in November of 2021, which resulted in a three-set road victory for the Mustangs.

-The Mustangs won both meetings a season ago, and have won the last two meetings in Marshall. 

-SMSU is 12-23 all-time at home against UMD.

-SMSU will match up with St. Cloud State for the 50th time, with SMSU holding a 26-23 advantage.

-The first meeting was in 1972 and the last meeting occurred last November with the Huskies winning in three sets in the first round of the NSIC tournament.

-SCSU won all three meetings last season, and have won the last five meetings overall.

-SMSU is 13-10 all-time at home in the series.

    SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS  

-After a pair of sweeps against Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State, the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team jumped up one spot 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 leading the way as the unanimous No. 1. Concordia-St. Paul hangs in at No. 3, while SMSU's Saturday opponent, St. Cloud State, also stuck in at No. 4. Rounding out the rankings for the NSIC is Minnesota Duluth, who stayed steady at No. 9, and will face off against the Mustangs inside the PE Gym on Friday night.

    MINNESOTA DULUTH PREVIEW

2022 Record: 13-1, 5-1 NSIC

Head Coach: Jim Boos, 21st season

Mascot: Bulldogs

NSIC Preseason Rank: t5th

AVCA Ranking: 9th

Minnesota Duluth Notes

-The Bulldogs went 1-1 last week, defeating Augustana in three sets and losing to Wayne State in three sets at home.

-UMD is led by Cianna Selbitschka, whose 134 kills lead the team, and Grace Daak, who has started the season with 58 blocks in 14 matches.  

    ST. CLOUD STATE PREVIEW

2022 Record: 13-1, 5-1 NSIC

Head Coach: Chad Braegelmann, eighth season

Mascot: Huskies

NSIC Preseason Rank: 2nd

AVCA Ranking: 4

St. Cloud State Notes

-The Huskies went 1-1 last weekend, getting swept by Wayne State on Friday before sweeping Augustana on Saturday at home. 

-Kenzie Foley leads the team with 188 kills, and Phebie Rossi has led the defense with 49 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 begins a three match week starting Tuesday, hosting Sioux Falls on Tuesday before traveling to face Minot State and UMary over the weekend. 

-The Mustangs will take on the Cougars at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 4, before facing the Beavers at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, and the Marauders on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 2 p.m.