THIS WEEK

The No. 9-ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team opens its conference slate, hosting Winona State and Upper Iowa.

The Mustangs face the Warriors at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, for their home opener.

SMSU closes their weekend on Saturday afternoon, hosting the Peacocks at 2 p.m.

    LAST WEEK  

The Mustangs closed out their non-conference slate with four more wins, going 8-0 heading into conference play for the second consecutive season.

SMSU used an offensive onslaught to outlast Missouri Western State 21-25, 25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 15-7 to open the Drury/Southwest Baptist Classic.

The Mustangs closed day one of the Classic with a 25-13, 25-19, 25-22 victory against host Drury on Friday afternoon.

SMSU took care of business on Saturday, playing just six sets in a 25-15, 25-15, 25-20 victory against Southern Arkansas and a 25-21, 25-20, 25-16 win over Rockhurst.

    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 has won eight 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.

     MUSTANGS ON THE LEADERBOARDS

SMSU can be found all over the NCAA DII Leaderboard

SMSU is one of 25 remaining unbeatens.

The Mustangs rank seventh in the nation in both kills per set (14.55), and assists per set (13.59)

The offense has also been powered by the 14th best hitting percentage in the nation (.274)

The defense has also been a strength thanks to the 14th most blocks (73) and 17th most blocks per set (2.52) in the country.

Senior Alisa Bengen has been the offensive catalyst, ranking ninth in the nation with 11.21 assists per set, and 14th in the nation with 314 total assists. 

Freshman Karli Arkell and Sophomore Emma VanHeel have been tough on the front line, ranking 34th (1.23) and 57th (1.14) in blocks per set, respectively. 

Sophomore Saari Kuehl has been the leader of the Mustang attack, ranking 46th in the nation with 102 total kills.

    SERIES HISTORY

SMSU and Winona State will meet for the 102nd time, with the Mustangs leading the series 67-33-1.

Their first meeting came in 1974, and their most recent meeting came in October of 2021, which resulted in a five-set victory for WSU.

The Mustangs have won 17-21 meetings over the Warriors since 2007.

SMSU has defeated Upper Iowa in 26 of their previous 27 meetings, with Saturday marking their 28th meeting.

The first meeting was in 2004 and the last meeting occurred last October with Upper Iowa winning for the first time in five sets.

The Mustangs have been dominant in the matchup, losing just 12 sets to the Peacocks all-time

    SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS  

After four wins in Missouri, including three wins in straight sets, the Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team jumped four spots to No. 9 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Poll released on Monday afternoon.

SMSU is one of six NSIC schools ranked in the AVCA Top 25 with Concordia-St. Paul leading the way at the No. 3 spot, Wayne State leaping to No. 5, and St. Cloud State placing at the No. 7 spot ahead of the Mustangs. Minnesota Duluth moved up seven spots to No. 14, and Augustana joins the rankings, moving to No. 24.   

    WINONA STATE PREVIEW

2022 Record: 4-3

Head Coach: Joe Getzin, ninth season

Mascot: Warriors

NSIC Preseason Rank: 8th

Winona State Notes

The Warriors went 2-1 last week, dropping a match to Stanilslaus State before defeating Cal State-Domingo Hills and Western Colorado.

WSU is led by Madison Larson, whose 100 kills lead the team, and Casey Volkmann, who has started the season with 119 digs in seven games.  

    UPPER IOWA PREVIEW

2022 Record: 6-1

Head Coach: Aaron Nelson, 12th season

Mascot: Peacocks

NSIC Preseason Rank: 10th

Upper Iowa Notes

The Peacocks went 3-0 last weekend, defeating Parkside, McKendree, and Illinois-Springfield in Kenosha, Wis.

Zoe Semelroth ranks first on the team with 80 kills, and Kaci Beesecker has lead the defense with 110 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 hits the road for a pair of matches against Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul.

The Mustangs will take on the Mavericks at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, before facing Concordia-St. Paul at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17