Photo courtesy of Peyton Bartsch/Augustana University Southwest Minnesota State University outside hitter Ashley Peltier (23) and middle blocker Karlie Arkell (21) make a move during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women’s volleyball game against Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD , one block Tuesday. The No. 7 Mustangs will host UMary and Minot State for a pair of homecoming conference games this weekend at Marshall.

MARSHALL – After falling from No. 4 to No. 7 in the latest coaches’ poll, the Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team will look to get back into shape when it hosts Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents UMary and Minot State on Friday and Saturday , for the homecoming weekend.

The Mustangs earned a ranked win over No. 20 Minnesota Duluth last Friday, earning their 14th straight win to start the season, the program’s best start since 2017. But on Saturday, the streak ended when SMSU was sent off the road at No. 5 St. Cloud State.

SMSU regained some of its mojo on Tuesday as it defeated Augustana with a 3-1 win.

“It had to happen at some point, and you can easily lose against this team.” SMSU head coach Tyler Boddy said of the dramatic loss to St. Cloud State. “They played against some of the better teams in the country and I think that only helps us in the end, playing two good teams on the road…Duluth had put us in some tough situations and we found a way out of it. I thought we struggled at times against St. Cloud too, they just kept putting pressure on us.”

UMary and Minot State are a pair of opponents that SMSU has consistently had success against over the years. The Mustangs have won each of their 15 matchups against Minot State and each of their 26 matchups against UMary. They will look to maintain the two unbeaten streaks when they return to the PE Gym on Friday.

Minot State and UMary each hosted the Mustangs earlier this season when SMSU traveled to North Dakota for their first NSIC appearance of the season.

The Mustangs defeated Minot State 25-10, 25-11, 25-21 to pick up their first conference win on September 20th. A day later, they defeated UMary 25-9, 25-17, 29-27 to keep the momentum going.

Freshman setter Sydney Thein led SMSU in its two wins to start the season and collected 73 set assists without an error, earning her the first of her two NSIC Setter of the Week selections this season. Libero McKenzie Tolk also had 24 digs in each sweep, while Saari Kuehl and Ashley Peltier led the Mustang hitters with 23 and 18 kills, respectively.

“It’s always interesting to play against a team a second time because you can look back at what you think you did well or what the team did against you. We tried to do that before the Augie match, so the idea is kind of the same with those two.” Boddy said.

The main thing that sets SMSU apart this year is its defense. While the Mustangs’ .245 batting average as a team is certainly impressive, their opponent is ranked second in the NSIC with a .154 batting average, making them nearly impossible to score against.

UMary and Minot State found this out the hard way last time. The Marauders rank 14th in the conference with a batting average of .140, while Minot ranks last at .092

Minot was tasked with putting the ball on the ground against the Mustangs and hit .063 while UMary hit .093.

UMary went 2-7 in its first game against the Mustangs and has continued to struggle since then, now standing at 2-12 overall. The Marauders have lost each of their last seven games, six of them against NSIC opponents, and are tied with Minot State for the final spot in the 15-team conference. SMSU, meanwhile, is tied with Concordia-St. tied together. Paul secured third place at 6-1, trailing only Wayne State at 7-0 and St. Cloud State at 6-0.

The Beavers have also struggled mightily, losing each of their last seven games, dropping them to 1-12 on the year. Minot State has been defeated in each of its last six games, losing in four sets to Mayville State in its seventh game.

While neither team was able to pick up a set in its last game against SMSU – the Mustangs have won 14 of their 15 all-time games against Minot State and eight of their last nine against the Marauders – both teams have given the Mustangs a run for their money third set of each game. Minot got within 4 points of SMSU after losing the first two sets by double digits, and UMary extended the set until SMSU won 29-27.

Boddy said he felt like his team was just excited to get in the gym for this weekend’s games and said homecoming week gave the players extra drive to get out there in front of the home fans.

“We talked about it today at practice that (my favorite part of Homecoming weekend) is really, really the alumni.” Boddy said. “I feel so fortunate to be a part of such a historic program, and not every program can say or do that. A lot of this came before I came here (as an assistant coach in 2010), so it’s fun to get in touch with these players as well and then do that for many years with (former assistant coach) Paul ( Soupir) and (former head coach) Terry (Culhane) and having our group be a part of it too, it’s just fun to bring it all together.”

“We have a lot of people that keep coming back, and that’s what I think is so cool, that they’re proud of our program and want to come back and continue to see us be successful.”

It’s been nothing but rough sailing for the Beavers so far. They don’t have a single player ranked in the conference’s top 20 in any major statistical category. In contrast, three Mustangs rank top 20 in blocks per set, digs per set and kills per set, two rank in service aces per set and hit rate, and another rank in set assists per set.

Paulina Kowalska, a junior from Poland, leads the team with 2.48 kills per set, while Kelci Madrid, a redshirt freshman from Colorado, leads the team defensively with 2.92 digs per set. The Beavers’ opponent’s batting average of .281 also ranks last in the NSIC.

UMary’s roster features some local talent, including 2019 Marshall High School graduate Kaia Sueker, who returns to the Marauders as a fifth-grader. In each of her first four years as UMary’s libero, Sueker led the team in digs. She recorded 451 digs in 2022 and 2023, an average of 4.70 per set, and currently leads the Marauders with 4.28 digs per set this season.

Unless there is a dramatic turnaround for the Marauders and they manage to finish in the top 8 of the conference and qualify for the NSIC tournament, Saturday will be the last time Sueker plays their hometown team.

The Mustangs’ game against UMary is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, while Saturday’s game against Minot State is scheduled for 1 p.m. Both games will be played at PE Gym and both games will be available via live video online at SMSUmustangs.com.