THIS WEEKEND
• The No. 16 SMSU volleyball is scheduled to play its final home matches of the regular season this week, playing Minnesota Crookston (7-15, 4-10 NSIC) and Bemidji State (8-14, 3-11 NSIC).
• The Mustangs match up against the Golden Eagles on Friday, Nov. 8, with first serve slated for 5 p.m.
• SMSU then welcomes the Beavers on Saturday, Nov. 9, with first serve scheduled 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 39th meeting between SMSU and UMC, with the Mustangs leading the all-time series 38-1.
• The Mustangs have won the last 30 matches in the series, dating back to 2003.
• SMSU is 18-0 all-time at home against UMC.
• Saturday will be the 101st meeting between SMSU and BSU, with the Mustangs leading 70-30 in the all-time series.
• The Mustangs have defeated the Beavers in the last 31 match-ups.
• SMSU is 30-5 all-time at home versus BSU.

MORE ON MINNESOTA CROOKSTON
• Minnesota Crookston went 0-2 last week. On Friday, the team fell in a four-setter against MSU Moorhead before suffering a sweep loss to No. 21 Northern State on Saturday.
• Maya Jones leads the Golden Eagles on offense with 216 kills and ranks second defensively with 37 blocks. Jones adds 22 service aces. 
• Baily Teveldal leads the team with 727 assists and has tallied 195 digs. She ranks first on the Golden Eagles with 29 service aces.
• Madison Carsten ranks second on the team with 199 kills and 264 digs thus far. She also has 23 service aces and 15 blocks.
• Kailee Waasdorp has a team-high 406 digs this season and supports the offense with 62 assists and 14 service aces.
• Carizma Muth comes in third with 189 kills. Muth ranks second on the team in service aces with 28 and fourth with 18 blocks. Baily Schaefer, another defensive specialist, is third with 196 digs.
• Emma Malek ranks fourth on the team in kills with 145, and consistently is one of the team's leading hitters at the end of matches. Malek has also recorded a team-high 46 total blocks this season.
• UMC is averaging 11.5 kills per set on 15.0 percent hitting while opponents average 13.2 kills on 22.3 percent hitting.

MORE ON BEMIDJI STATE
• BSU went 1-1 last week, splitting a pair of matches at home. The Beavers were swept by No. 21 Northern State on Friday, before picking up a big five-set win over MSU Moorhead on Saturday.
• The win over MSUM was the first for BSU Interim Head Coach, Erika Bute.
• Ashley Crowl leads the Beavers offense with 254 kills. Crowl has posted a team-high 34 service aces with six assists in support of the offense, while helping of defense 209 digs and 27 blocks.
• Rylie Bjerklie follows behind with 215 kills and ranks first defensively with 74 total blocks. Bjerklie has recorded 15 service aces and 11 assists. 
• Emily Wade is the anchor for the offense, putting up a team-high 733 assists while holding it down defensively with 188 digs, good enough for fourth on the team. Wade adds 12 service aces.
• Jada Wlodarczyk excels on the back line with a team-high 359 digs to go with 21 service aces and 70 assists.
• Zayda Priebe ranks fourth with 101 kills and second with 56 blocks.
• Ava Athman rounds out the top-five BSU attackers with 95 kills and supports the offense with 24 service aces and 24 blocks.
• BSU is averaging 11.5 kills per set on 16.7 percent hitting while opponents average 12.5 kills per set on 22.0 percent hitting.

LAST TIME OUT
• Then-No. 10 ranked SMSU team broke its losing streak at home with a 16-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22 win over Sioux Falls on Saturday afternoon.
• SMSU was led by a trio of hitters who registered double-digit kills. Emma VanHeel led the attack with 15 kills on an efficient .323 hitting percentage, putting up a pair of solo blocks in the process. Ashley Peltier followed with 13 kills on .370 hitting and three block assists, while Saari Kuehl swung for 10 kills. 
• Sydney Thein supported the attack with 50 set assists and helped defensively with 11 digs, good enough for a double-double. 
• McKenzie Tolk was the anchor for the Mustangs on the back line, tallying 18 digs and an ace while recording three assists. Leah Jones added 12 digs.

THEIN EARNS THIRD NSIC SETTER OF THE WEEK ACCOLADE
• SMSU redshirt freshman setter Sydney Thein was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Setter of the Week on Monday, Oct. 28, following her performance in SMSU's 1-0 week. It is the third time the SMSU setter has earned the accolade this season.
• Thein, a native of Clara City, Minn., shined over the week, ranking first in the league in assists per set (14.60), while leading the Mustangs to season-high 79 kills on a .235 team hitting percentage.
• Thein logged 73 assists in the 3-2 reverse sweep and upset win over No. 7 Wayne State on Thursday (Oct. 24) - tying the second-most assists in a single match in team history.
• She would add a kill and 15 digs on defense for her 13th double-double of the season.

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 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 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 the NSIC in digs per set (19.29), and assists per set (13.93), while ranking second in kills per set (14.66), fifth in blocks per set (2.09) and sixth in team hitting pct. (.238).
• Senior outside hitter Saari Kuehl leads SMSU in hitting with 280 kills (3.26 per set), followed by sophomore outside hitter Leah Jones with 255 kills (2.97 per set). Senior middle blocker Emma VanHeel comes in third with 239 kills while sophomore right side hitter Ashley Peltier adds 219 kills. 
• VanHeel also leads the Mustang blockers with 90 blocks.
• Redshirt freshman setter Sydney Thein anchors the offense with 1,012 assists (11.77 per set) while supporting the attack with 62 kills on .317 hitting. Thein adds 278 digs and 24 service aces.
• Junior libero McKenzie Tolk leads the defense with 461 digs (5.36 per set) while supporting the offense with 79 assists.

SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS
• SMSU dropped outside of the top 15 in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II poll released on Nov. 4.
• SMSU is one of five NSIC schools ranked in the top 25 with St. Cloud State coming in at No. 2, followed by Concordia-St. Paul at No. 8 and Wayne State at No. 10, while Northern State ranks No. 21. Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State are both receiving votes.
• Following the AVCA poll released on Nov. 4, the Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 238 of the last 239 rankings, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006.

SMSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKS  
• The Mustangs currently hold multiple team and individual placements amongst the weekly NCAA statistical leader boards.
• SMSU ranks third in the nation in assists per set (13.93), fifth in Division II in kills per set (14.66) and in digs per set (19.29).
• The Mustangs sit at No. 8 in total assists (1,198), No. 13 in total kills (1,261), and No. 17 in total digs (1,659).
• Sydney Thein comes in at No. 6 in assists per set (11.77) and No. 5 in total assists (1,012), while McKenzie Tolk ranks No. 18 in digs per set (5.36) and No. 21 in total digs (461).

HEAD COACH TYLER BODDY  
• Tyler Boddy is in his third season as head coach in 2024 and has a career record of 65-17 overall, including 39-13 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 313-87 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
• SMSU is on the road for its final regular season matches, playing Northern State and MSU Moorhead on Nov. 15-16.