THIS WEEK
The No. 10 ranked SMSU volleyball team, after defeating Minnesota Crookston and Minnesota State Moorhead, continues NSIC action on the road this weekend.
The Mustangs face No. 20 ranked Minnesota Duluth on Friday inside the Romano Gymnasium at 6 p.m., before facing Bemidji State the following day at 2 p.m.
All matches are listed in central time.
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
SMSU will face Minnesota Duluth for the 97th time with the Bulldogs leading the series 71-25.
The Mustangs are 6-3 in their last nine matches against UMD, and 3-1 in their last four in Duluth. Tyler Boddy holds a 4-3 record against UMD as SMSU head coach.
The Mustangs meet Bemidji State for the 104th time on Saturday with SMSU holding a 73-30 record all time.
The 'Stangs have won 34 straight matches against the Beavers dating back to 2003. SMSU holds a 23-15 record in matches played in Bemidji. Coach Boddy holds a 5-0 record against BSU as Mustangs head coach.Â
RECAP OF LAST WEEK
The Mustangs ended their four-match home stretch with sweeps of Minnesota Crookston and Minnesota State Moorhead.
Leah Jones led the Mustangs with 23 kills across six sets, hitting .413 across the two matches.
Natalie Pilney added 15 kills (six vs. UMC, nine vs. MSUM) while hitting .535 across the weekend.
Tatem Schmidt paced the Mustangs offense with 48 assists (22 vs. UMC, 26 vs. MSUM) adding eight digs. Sydney Thein added 39 assists and eight digs.
A week after being named NSIC Defensive Player of the Week, Ashlynn Schroeder totaled 37 digs, with 17 against UMC, and 20 against MSUM.
The Mustangs as a team hit .416 in the two matches combined, including hitting .464 against the Golden Eagles.
MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS
SMSU returns 11 letter winners from the 2025 team that won 21 matches last season. The 2026 team features three seniors, four juniors, three sophomores, two redshirt freshman, and five true freshmen.
The Mustangs have collected 1023 kills over the first 20 matches with a team hitting percentage of .271. SMSU is holding teams to a hitting percentage of .171.Â
Senior outside hitter Leah Jones leads the Mustangs with 222 kills and 3.22 kills per set. The Marshall, Minn., native has 11 matches with double-digit kills, including a career-high 27 kills against Northern State. Jones ranks ninth all time in kills at SMSU.
Outside hitter Mollie Rupp and middle blocker Natalie Pilney are second and third on the team in kills, with 170 and 167 respectively. Rupp, a transfer from Minnesota Duluth, is averaging 2.5 kills per set, and is hitting .318 on the season. Pilney, who is averaging 2.42 kills per set and hitting .325, is also third in service aces (22), and leads the team with 71 total blocks, averaging 1.03 blocks per set.
Mya Krystosek is fourth on the team with 143 kills, averaging 2.17 kills per set. The fifth-year outside hitter is second in digs (187) and digs per set (2.83), while leading the team in service aces with 25 on the year.
Fellow fifth-year Ashley Peltier is fifth on the team with 131 kills. Peltier has four matches with double-digit kills, and reached a season-high 13 kills against Jamestown.
Freshman middle blocker Lindsay Kruse is sixth on the team with 130 kills hitting a team-best .373. Kruse has five matches with nine or more kills and six matches hitting .500 or better, while ranking second in blocks with 61.
Sophomore libero Ashlynn Schroeder is currently pacing the Mustangs defensively with 313 digs and 4.54 digs per set. Schroeder has 15+ digs in 12 matches this year including two matches with 25 digs (9/3 v. Missouri Western, 10/10 v. Northern State).
Junior Paige Steinmetz ranks third in digs with 181, and a digs per set ratio of 2.62. Steinmetz has eight matches with double-digit digs, and three matches with 14.
Freshman setter Tatem Schmidt currently leads the Mustangs with 456 assists and an assist per set ratio of 6.61. Schmidt is also fourth on the team in digs with 178. The Huxley, Iowa, native has had 20 or more assists in 17 of 20 matches, and racked up 26 digs against Missouri Western.
Senior setter Sydney Thein has collected 379 assists and 5.49 assists per set. Thein has nine matches with 20+ assists and four matches with eight or more digs.
SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS
SMSU rises one spot to No. 10 in the recent AVCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released Monday afternoon.
SMSU is one of five teams from the NSIC represented in the top 25. For the seventh week in a row, Wayne State remains at No. 2, while Concordia-St. Paul also remains No. 7. St. Cloud State drops two spots to a tie for No. 15, while SMSU's opponent this weekend, Minnesota Duluth, falls three spots to No. 20.
Following the AVCA poll released on Oct. 12, the Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 262 of the last 263 rankings, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006.
SMSU IN THE NCAA POWER INDEX RANKINGS
SMSU is listed No. 5 in the initial NCAA Power Index (NPI) Central Region rankings released on Monday morning.
The NPI is the new metric NCAA tournament teams will be selected in all Division II sports for the 2026-27 season. At-large teams will be selected using the NPI, the system that houses the division's statistical data and objectively applies the selection criteria to the data based on the sport committee's established weighted criteria.
NPI rankings will be announced Oct. 26, Nov. 2 and Nov. 9. NPI rankings will be pushed daily starting with the third ranking (Nov. 2). The NPI rankings used for selections will be posted after the selection show airs on NCAA.com on Nov. 15 at 9 p.m. (CT).
SMSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKS Â
The Mustangs have begun the 2026 season with team and individual placements amongst the NCAA statistical leader boards.
SMSU is ranked first in assists per set (14.01) and kills per set (14.83).
The Mustangs are also ranked No. 16 in Match W/L percentage (.850), No. 17 in attacks per set (38.23), No. 18 in hitting percentage (.271), and No. 19 in digs per set (17.55).
Lindsay Kruse is ranked at No. 41 in hitting percentage (.373). Natalie Pilney is ranked No. 54 in blocks per set (1.03)Â
SMSU IN THE CONFERENCE RANKS Â
The Mustangs have begun the 2026 season with team and individual placements amongst the NSIC statistical leader boards (conference matches only).
SMSU is ranked first assists per set (14.04), kills per set (14.77) points per set (18.72), and aces per set (1.91) while ranking third in digs per set (17.23) and hitting percentage (.268) and sixth in blocks per set (2.04)
Mya Krystosek ranks fourth in service aces per set (.45) while Paige Steinmetz and Natalie Pilney rank seventh and No. 13, averaging .4 and .36 respectively. Pilney also ranks eighth in blocks per set (1.04). Ashlynn Schroeder is fifth in digs per set (4.64). Tatem Schmidt is No. 11 in assists per set (6.43).
NSIC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
SMSU's Ashlynn Schroeder was once again named NSIC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 19 for her performances against Minnesota Crookston and Minnesota State Moorhead.
Schroeder led SMSU defensively with 37 digs in sweeps against Minnesota Crookston and Minnesota State Moorhead, averaging 6.17 digs per set, good for second best in the NSIC. Schroeder recorded 17 digs and an assist against the Golden Eagles on Friday, before adding 20 digs and four assists against the Dragons the next day.
This was Schroeder's second Defensive Player of the Week award, and the second individual weekly award the Mustangs have received this season.
HEAD COACH TYLER BODDY Â
Tyler Boddy is in his fifth season as head coach in 2026 and has a career record of 107-29 overall, including 68-22 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.Â
In that time, the program has appeared in nine NCAA tournaments, including finishing as NCAA national runners-up in 2014. SMSU has a combined record of 332-93 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.
PREVIEWING NO. 20 MINNESOTA DULUTH
2026 Record: 16-5, 9-4 NSIC
Head Coach: Jim Boos, 25th season
NSIC Preseason Rank: 7
The Bulldogs finished the 2025 season with an 18-10 overall record and an 11-9 mark in NSIC play.
Senior right-side hitter Madeline Guetzkow earned Second Team All-NSIC honors in 2025 and currently leads the Bulldogs with 253 kills, averaging 3.56 kills per set, while adding 25 service aces. Guetzkow has only five matches this season with single-digit kills, and was named NSIC Offensive Player of the Week on Sep. 28.
Junior middle blocker Paige Decker also earned Second Team All-NSIC honors last season after recording 171 kills and 84 total blocks. She currently has 212 kills, averaging 2.99 kills per set, while hitting .418.Â
Sophomore setter Ava Jones earned Second Team All-NSIC recognition in 2025 after recording 1,031 assists. She currently leads UMD with 782 assists, averaging 11.01 assists per set, and has been named NSIC Setter of the Week twice this season.
PREVIEWING BEMIDJI STATE
2026 Record: 14-7, 6-7 NSIC
Head Coach: Hahni Johnson, 1st season
NSIC Preseason Rank: 13
The Beavers finished the 2025 season with a 7-21 overall record and a 4-16 mark in NSIC play, finishing 13th in the conference.
Junior outside hitter Ava Athman currently leads Bemidji State with 265 kills, averaging 3.58 kills per set, while hitting .340 and recording 123 digs.Â
Sophomore outside hitter Neveah Carlson ranks second on the team with 263 kills while averaging a team best 3.7 kills per set.Â
Sophomore setter Madison Tripp was named Bemidji State's 2026 NSIC Preseason Player to Watch after recording 631 assists and 203 digs as a freshman in 2025. She currently leads the Beavers with 813 assists, averaging 11.01 assists per set, while adding 199 digs.
ON THE HORIZON
SMSU begins the home stretch of the 2026 season with a trio of matches both on the road and at home.
The Mustangs face No. 2 ranked Wayne State on Tuesday at 6 p.m., in Wayne, Neb., before hosting Winona State and No. 7 ranked Concordia-St. Paul on Oct. 30 and 31st respectively.
