Women's Volleyball | October 01, 2014

FULL PDF RELEASE  |  LIVE STATS AT SMSU  |  LIVE STATS AT USF  |  LIVE VIDEO

Teams: Minot State at Southwest Minnesota State | Series: SMSU leads series 3-0
Date: Friday, Oct. 3, 2014 | Time: 7 p.m. | Site: P/E Gymnasium
Teams: Minot State at University of Sioux Falls | Series: Series tied 5-5
Date: Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014 | Time: 2 p.m. | Site: Stewart Center

RECORDS: Minot State enters the week of Sept. 29 with a 3-11 overall record and a 1-5 record in the Northern Sun. The team is currently riding a five-game losing streak and is looking to break the streak this weekend. The Mustangs enter the week with a 9-5 overall record and a 4-2 record in the NSIC. The Cougars come in with a record right around .500, sitting at 7-8 overall and 2-4 in the NSIC.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Travis Ward is in his fourth season as the head coach of the Beaver volleyball program. Ward has a career record of 36-58 during his tenure at Minot State. In 2013, Ward led the Beavers to 12 overall wins, doubling their win total from 2012 which was the team's first year in the NSIC. Terry Culhane is in his 11th season as the head coach of Southwest Minnesota State. A graduate of SMSU, he began the 2014 season with the 9th highest winning percentage in NCAA Division II among all active coaches. The Cougars of Sioux Falls are led by Joel McCartney who is in his 4th year with the program. McCartney guided the Cougars to their first ever appearance in the NSIC postseason tournament in 2013. The head coach came to the University of Sioux Falls after coaching NCAA Division I school Georgia.

RANKINGS: Southwest Minnesota State begins the week of Sept. 29 as the No. 9 team in the American Volleyball Coaches' Association top 25 poll. The Mustangs were previously ranked No. 7 the week before. Minot State and Sioux Falls are not ranked and did not receive any votes in the Sept. 29 poll.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State is in the midst of a five-game losing streak and is looking to right the ship as the halfway point of the season approaches. The Beavers began the previous week with a 3-0 loss to Minnesota State-Moorhead in their final road game before their home opener. The Beavers held their own as they opened up the MSU Dome and took on Minnesota State-Mankato, but needed a little bit of luck that didn't come their way and dropped the home opener 3-2. In the final game of the weekend, the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears proved why they're seven-time defending national champions. Minot State dropped their second home game of the season in straight sets, 3-0.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Southwest Minnesota State enters the week of Sept. 29 sitting in a tie for 6th place in the highly competitive NSIC, yet are only two games out of first place. SMSU started out the week of Sept. 22 with a heartbreak in 3-2 loss when they visited Augustana on Sept. 23. Despite the tough loss, the Mustangs regrouped for their weekend road trip as they went on to defeat Minnesota-Crookston and Bemidji State. Both games on the weekend were 3-0 sweeps. Abbey Thissen leads SMSU in total kills, averaging 3.37 kills per set.

NOTING THE COUGARS: The University of Sioux Falls was in the middle of a four-game losing streak entering the week of Sept. 22 and their struggles continued early on in the week when they dropped a home match against Wayne State in straight sets. The Cougars found new life in the weekend games, though as they began their weekend with a 3-0 sweep over Bemidji State. Sioux Falls continued their winning ways with their second victory of the weekend when they followed up their win against Bemidji with a tough win against Minnesota-Crookston that ended 3-2 in favor of the Cougars. Sioux Falls is a well balanced team so far this season with five players having more than 100 kills on the season.

SHAUNESSY SHOWS STRENGTH: Sophomore Shaunessy Dauwalder (OH, Stanley, N.D.) had one of her best performances of the season in the Beavers 3-2 setback in their home opener against Minnesota State. Dauwalder recorded six kills in the match and had a strong .417 hitting percentage.

BYRNE-ING DOWN THE HOUSE: There's a new all-time assists leader in Minot State volleyball history, and that title belongs to Emily Byrne (Sr., S, Reno, Nev.). The senior setter broke the previous record, held by Melissa Spelchan, in the third set of the match against Concordia-St. Paul over the weekend.

THE BIG THREE: Junior Tarah Dabovich (MH, Phoenix, Ariz.), Mallory Sall (Jr, OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) and senior Jen Dixon (OH, Brandon, Manitoba) have done the vast majority of the damage for the Beavers so far this season. All three hitters have more than 100 kills on the season as Dixon leads the way with 191.


BY THE NUMBERS
2: The week of Sept. 29 marks the first week of the season where the Beavers will play just two matches in a week. Minot State will have a full week of practice before they travel to Southwest Minnesota State for a Friday matchup.

8: Minot State's Jen Dixon (Sr., OH, Brandon, Manitoba) needs just 8 more kills before she becomes the Beavers' all-time leader in kills. The senior outside hitter is likely to break the record on Friday at Southwest Minnesota State.

3,733: The Beavers' Emily Byrne broke the all-time assists record in Minot State's match against Concordia-St. Paul last Saturday. Byrne currently has 3,733 assists and will look to create some distance going forward with the rest of the season.