THIS WEEKEND
• The No. 4 SMSU volleyball team resumes conference action on the road this weekend with a pair of matches against No. 15 Minnesota Duluth (8-3, 1-2 NSIC) and No. 8 St. Cloud State (10-2, 4-0 NSIC).
• The Mustangs match up against the Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 4, with first serve slated for 6 p.m.
• SMSU faces off with the Huskies on Saturday, Oct. 5, with match time set for 2 p.m.

MATCH COVERAGE
• Live stats and video for all matches will be available at SMSUmustangs.com
• Stay up to date on the Mustangs throughout the weekend by downloading the official SMSU Athletics app.

SERIES HISTORY
• Friday will be the 94th meeting between SMSU and UMD, with the Bulldogs leading the series 70-23.
• The first meeting happened in 1973, and the most recent meeting happened in November of 2023 with the Bulldogs defeating the Mustangs 3-1 in the first round of the NSIC Tournament.
• SMSU is 7-29 all-time against UMD on the road.
• SMSU and SCSU will meet for the 53rd time, with the Mustangs leading the series 28-24.
• The Mustangs defeated the Huskies a season ago by scores of 20-25, 25-17, 25-22, and 25-20.
• SMSU is 11-8 all-time on the road against SCSU.

MORE ON MINNESOTA DULUTH
• UMD is 8-3 on the season and last played on Oct. 1 suffering a 3-0 loss to No. 8 St. Cloud State in a non-conference contest on the road. The Bulldogs are 0-1 at home this season.
• Samantha Paulsen leads the Bulldogs on offense with 2.77 kills per set with a team-high 122 kills and 35 blocks on defense.
• Cianna Selbitschka follows behind with 115 kills while coming in second on the team with 142 digs.
• Kaylyn Madison leads the team on the back line with 195 digs while supporting the offense with 38 assists and 20 service aces.
• Maddi Kealy leads UMD with 260 assists while posting seven service aces.
• UMD is averaging 13.0 kills per set on 25.3 percent hitting while opponents average 10.6 kills on 17.1 percent hitting.

MORE ON ST. CLOUD STATE
• SCSU last played on Oct. 1 earning a sweep over No. 15 Minnesota Duluth in non-conference play at home. The Huskies are 3-0 at home this season. 
• The reigning NSIC Player of the Year, Kenzie Foley, leads the Huskies offense in kills (209) while coming second in digs (150) and third in blocks (22).
• Ella Thompson follows with 141 kills while ranking second on the squad with 24 blocks.
• Emma Berran leads SCSU with 479 assists, ranks second with 15 service aces and 22 blocks, and is third with 84 digs.
• Keely Kurschner holds down the back line with 176 digs and leads the team with 19 service aces.
• SCSU is averaging 14.7 kills per set on 28.3 percent hitting while opponents average 10.3 kills per set on 16.3 percent hitting.

LAST TIME OUT
• SMSU came back from down two sets to stun the No. 22 Northern State Wolves on Friday evening at the SMSU PE Gym.
• Leah Jones led the Mustang offensive unit with a career-high 19 kills on .250 hitting while tallying three blocks and an ace. Ashley Peltier followed behind with a career-high 17 kills on .452 hitting with a dig and seven block assists. Saari Kuehl and Emma VanHeel recorded 15 and 12 kills, respectively, while Karli Arkell put down 11 kills on .409 hitting.
• Sydney Thein logged a double-double setting a career-high 64 assists with 12 digs and four kills.
• McKenzie Tolk anchored the defense with 24 digs while supporting the attack with five assists.
• SMSU out-hit NSU .280-.191, tallying 78 kills to the Wolves 56.
• A well-balanced attack led the No. 4 SMSU to a sweep over MSU Moorhead 25-15, 25-22, 25-22  on Saturday afternoon at the SMSU PE Gym.
• Leah Jones led the SMSU offense with 15 kills on .379 hitting and a pair of assists, while logging nine digs and an ace on the back line. Ashley Peltier swung for 13 kills on .385 hitting, while Saari Kuehl added 12 kills on .417 hitting. Emma VanHeel rounded out the attack with nine kills on an astounding .571 hitting percentage and a solo block. 
• Sydney Thein supported the offense with 41 assists and a pair of kills, while also helping out defensively with a match-high 23 digs.
• McKenzie Tolk recorded her 1,000th career dig in the win after posting 16 digs.
• SMSU posted 55 kills on a season-high .393 hitting with four total blocks, while MSUM was limited to 40 kills on .231 hitting.
• The Mustangs are on their longest winning streak since the 2017 season, when SMSU won the first 17 games of the year.

JONES, THEIN EARN NSIC VOLLEYBALL WEEKLY HONORS
• The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference office announced on Sept. 30 that Leah Jones and Sydney Thein earned weekly player honors following a 3-0 week at home, including a pair of five-set victories. 
• Jones, a native of Marshall, Minn., earns NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career. The sophomore outside hitter was the cornerstone of the SMSU offense last week, posting a team-high 4.00 kills per set (52 total) on a .244 hitting percentage, while assisting the offense with four assists and three service aces.
• Jones batted down a match-high 18 kills while adding 17 digs and a pair of blocks for a double-double in the 3-2 non-conference win over Augustana. In the five-set win over No. 22 Northern State, Jones swung for a career-high 19 kills on .250 hitting while again adding 18 digs for another double-double.
• She would end the weekend with a match-high 15 kills on a season-best .379 hitting percentage in the sweep over MSU Moorhead. Jones is a 2023 graduate of Marshall High School.
• Thein, a native of Clara City, Minn., earns NSIC Setter of the Week honors for the second consecutive week. The redshirt freshman shined over the week posting 12.38 assists per set, while leading the Mustangs to a .285 team hitting percentage.
• Thein recorded a then-career-high 56 assists against Augustana, then logged a career-high 64 assists in the win over No. 22 Northern State.
• She would end the weekend with a career match-high 13.67 assists per set (41) against MSU Moorhead, while boasting 7.67 digs per set (23) in the win. Thein also had a standout weekend defensively, posting 4.15 digs per set.

THEIN EARNS NSIC SETTER OF THE WEEK HONORS
• SMSU redshirt freshman setter Sydney Thein was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Setter of the Week on Monday, Sept. 23, following her performances in SMSU's 2-0 weekend in North Dakota.
• Thein, a native of Clara City, Minn., shined over the week, ranking first in the league in assists per set (12.17), while leading the Mustangs to an NSIC-best .313 team hitting percentage.
• Thein recorded 36 assists in the sweep over Minot State on Sept. 20, then logged 37 assists in the 3-0 win over UMary on Sept. 21.
• She would end the weekend with 12.17 assists per set while hitting .250 and recording 17 digs. She is the first Mustang to win an NSIC weekly honor since Oct. 9, 2023, when Emma VanHeel earned defensive honors, and is the first SMSU setter to earn the honor since Emma Thomssen won the weekly accolade in 2018. 

MUSTANG MACHINES
• SMSU ranks first in NSIC play in assists per set (15.50), kills per set (16.43), team hitting pct. (.318), and digs per set (19.86). The Mustangs are third in the league in opponent hitting pct. (.145), while coming in fourth in opponent kills per set (11.14).
• Senior outside hitter Saari Kuehl leads SMSU in hitting 164 kills (3.57 per set), followed by sophomore outside hitter Leah Jones with 144 kills (2.89 per set). Sophomore right side hitter Ashley Peltier comes in third with 123 kills while senior middle blocker Emma VanHeel adds 101 kills. VanHeel also leads the Mustang blockers with 46 blocks.
• Redshirt freshman setter Sydney Thein anchors the offense with 548 assists (11.91 per set) while supporting the attack with 41 kills on .330 hitting. Thein adds 159 digs and 10 service aces.
• Junior libero McKenzie Tolk leads the defense with 260 digs (5.65 per set) while supporting the offense with 45 assists.

SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS
• SMSU stayed at No. 4 in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II poll released on Sept. 30. It is the third consecutive week that the Mustangs have held the highest rank in the NSIC.
• SMSU is one of six NSIC schools ranked in the top 25 with Wayne State coming in at No. 6, followed by St. Cloud State at No. 8 and Concordia-St. Paul at No. 12, while Minnesota Duluth ranks No. 15. Northern State clocks in at No. 22. Minnesota State is currently receiving votes.
• Following the AVCA poll released on Sept. 30, the Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 233 of the last 234 rankings, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006.

SMSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKS  
• The Mustangs currently hold multiple team and individual placements amongst the NCAA statistical leader boards.
• SMSU ranks first in the nation in digs per set (19.93) and assists per set (14.43), and second in the nation in kills per set (15.24).
• The Mustangs sit at No. 14 in total assists (664) and digs (917), and No. 18 in total kills (701)
• Sydney Thein comes in at No. 5 in assists per set (11.91) and No. 8 in total assists (548), while McKenzie Tolk ranks No. 10 in digs per set (5.65) and No. 17 in total digs (260).

HEAD COACH TYLER BODDY  
• Tyler Boddy is in his third season as head coach in 2024 and has a career record of 59-13 overall, including 33-9 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.
• Boddy, who spent 10 years as an assistant coach at SMSU, became the fifth head coach in the program's 50-year history on Dec. 17, 2021. 
• In that time, the program has appeared in eight NCAA tournaments, including finishing as NCAA national runners-up in 2014. SMSU has a combined record of 307-83 during his tenure which includes two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season titles and two NSIC tournament championships.
• 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.

ON THE HORIZON
• The Mustangs continue play on the road with a Tuesday match-up against Augustana on Oct. 8, before returning to the PE Gym for SMSU's homecoming weekend.
• SMSU is scheduled to play UMary on Friday, Oct. 11, with first serve at 6 p.m.
• The Mustangs then welcome Minot State the following day, with match time set for 1 p.m.