December 12, 2014 – Hoof Prints Article Hello Mustang Fans!
Congratulations to the SMSU Volleyball Team, the NCAA DII National Runner-up! What an amazing run by this group of coaches and student-athletes. I do not believe there could be too many teams in the history of DII Volleyball national tournament competition where a team had to beat the #4 UNK, #3 Concordia St. Paul (7 time defending National Champs), #2 UMD (host of the NCAA Central Region Tournament) to earn the NCAA Central Region Championship and a spot National Tournament. At the National Championships, our Mustangs then matched up with the #1team in the country, Tampa, in the National Championship match.
Our SMSU Volleyball team should feel nothing but pride in their effort and persistence, how they represented SMSU and the Marshall Community at the Championships and for all their accomplishments in the classroom and in the sport of volleyball. They truly are student-athletes and are a great example of what it means to be a “MUSTANG”!
The Festival format to the Division II National Championships was a rewarding experience for our coaches and student-athletes. The opening ceremony at Churchill Downs was an unbelievable event at a historical landmark in Louisville. The NCAA provided our team and all of the 56 teams competing at the championships a first-class experience.
At the opening ceremony, the SMSU Volleyball team was recognized for being the top performing academic squad at the championships for the sport of volleyball. As many of you have already seen, Claire Sames was awarded the Elite 89 award as the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the NCAA Division II National Championships in the sport of volleyball. Once again, congratulations to the coaches and student-athletes of the SMSU Volleyball program for a memorable season.
For the latest information on and Mustang Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.
This Week in SMSU Athletics The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (6-3, 2-1 NSIC) will head to North Dakota this weekend for a pair of NSIC contests. The Mustangs will face the University of Mary (2-5, 0-3 NSIC) on Friday at the McDowell Activity Center with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 pm. Southwest will finish-up the trip on Saturday with a 6:00 pm matchup against Minot State University (5-3, 1-2 NSIC) at the MSU Dome. The Mustangs went 1-1 last weekend coming up with a big win over Winona State on Friday night before losing to Upper Iowa in a close battle on Saturday.
The SMSU Women’s Basketball team (0-7, 0-3 NSIC) will continue NSIC play this weekend as they too travel to North Dakota. The Mustangs will play U-Mary (3-6, 1-2 NSIC) on Friday night at 6:00 pm, before facing Minot State (5-3, 0-3 NSIC) on Saturday at 4:00 pm. Southwest is coming off a pair of losses last week to Winona State and Upper Iowa.
The SMSU Women’s and Men’s teams will resume NSIC action on the road next Saturday as the teams will travel to Sioux Falls, SD, to take on the University of Sioux Falls with the contests scheduled for 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm. This will be the Mustang’s final contests prior to the winter break. Both teams will begin NSIC play again on January 2 & 3 as they welcome Wayne State and Augustana to Marshall for a Friday/Saturday doubleheader.
The SMSU Wrestling team (3-1) went 2-1 last weekend at the Candlewood Suites Duals in La Crosse, WI. The Mustangs fell to the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse before beating UW-Eau Claire and University of Dubuque last Saturday. SMSU continued action last night playing host to the #7 ranked Augsburg College at the PE Gym with the match starting at 7:00 pm. This will be the last competition before the winter break for Southwest with their next match coming on January 15 at MSU, Mankato.
The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team (3-17) went 0-4 last weekend at the University of Missouri Tournament held in Columbia, MO. The Mustangs last to the University of Illinois 48-68, Wisconsin Whitewater 36-81 and 47-66 and completed the tournament schedule with a loss to the University of Missouri 41-81. SMSU will be back in action following the winter break on January 16 & 17 as they head to Wichita, KS, for the Kansas Tournament.
The SMSU Women’s and Men’s Indoor Track & Field teams next competition will be on January 10 at the Minnesota State Alumni Open held in Mankato, MN, with the competition starting at 11:00 am.
I would like to wish all of our teams the best of luck this weekend!
Go Mustangs!
Congratulations to Tyler Tonderum, who provided the correct answer to our last Mustang Hoofprints Question: When was the last time the SMSU Volleyball team beat the University of Minnesota, Duluth? The Mustangs beat UMD at home in 2012.
Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)
Who is the career leader in rebounding for the SMSU Women’s Basketball program?
The first person to email me at
MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.
