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Teams: Minot State vs. Upper Iowa | Series: Upper Iowa leads series 2-1
Date: Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 | Time: 7 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome
Teams: Minot State vs. Winona State | Series: Winona State leades series 3-1
Date: Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome

MATCHUPS: Minot State will end their 2014 season with two home matches against Upper Iowa and Winona State. In the Beavers first match against Upper Iowa this season, the Peacocks come out on top, winning 3-0. With similar overall records, the game is likely to be different this time around. Minot State lost a heartbreak on their trip to Winona State earlier this season. The Beavers led 14-8 in the final set and dropped the final eight points, so they'll be looking for revenge this Saturday.

RECORDS: Minot State begins the week of Nov. 3 with a 9-18 overall record and a 6-12 record in the NSIC. The Beavers are in the middle of a two-game losing streak after their weekend road trip to Concordia and Minnesota State. Upper Iowa currently has the same conference record as Minot State, 6-12, but has a better overall record of 11-15. The Peacocks split last weekend and lost their last game. Winona State boasts an impressive 13-5 conference record and has an 18-6 record overall. The warriors are currently in the middle of a four-game winning streak.

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. Joe Getzin is also in his first year as the head coach of Winona State. Getzin joins the Warriors after being named a two-time Coach of the Year in the NCAA Division I Southeastern Conference. Upper Iowa is led by fourth year coach Aaron Nelson. The Minnesota native helped lead Concordia University-St. Paul to multiple national championships before joining the Peacocks

RANKINGS: In the most recent poll released by the American Volleyball Coaches Association on Nov. 3, no teams facing the Beavers this week were ranked in the top 25. Winona State did receive 22 votes for the top 25 but remain unranked this week. Neither Minot State nor Upper Iowa received votes.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: After the Beavers began the week with a win over U-Mary and extended their winning streak to four games, Minot State's momentum ran out when they ran into the No. 3 ranked Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears. The Golden Bears swept Minot State 3-0 in St. Paul, Minn. The following day, the Beavers looked to get back on the winning side of things against Minnesota State, a team the Beavers took to five sets earlier in the season. Unfortunately for the Beavers, though, the Mavericks swept Minot State 3-0. Despite the score line, the match was closer than it seemed. Minot State didn't lose a set by more than four points and the Beavers pushed the Mavericks to extra points in the second set, as the score ended 29-27 in favor of the Mavericks. Mallory Sall (Jr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) ended the match against Minnesota State with a game-high 16 kills and she also recorded eight digs in the match.

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Upper Iowa is in the middle of a stretch where they've lost seven of their eight games but this past weekend they started off the weekend with a win against Minnesota State-Moorhead. The Peacocks carried the momentum from their 3-2 win into their next game against Northern State, but the Wolves proved to be too much in the end, taking the match 3-2 themselves. The Peacocks are led by Jennifer Mundt, who has 406 kills on the season and averages 4.02 kills per set.

NOTING THE WARRIORS: Winona State enters the final week of the regular season as the No. 5 team in the Northern Sun standings. The Warriors have hit one of their better stretches of the season thus far, winning their last four games in conference play. This past Friday, the Warriors got their home weekend started off right when they defeated Northern State in straight sets. They went on to close out the weekend with another straight set win against Minnesota State-Moorhead. Danielle Rampart was named NSIC Offensive Player of the Week after recording 45 total kills in three matches this past week for the Warriors. She leads the team with 344 kills.

SENIOR SEND-OFF: This weekend marks the final two games seniors Jen Dixon (OH, Brandon, Manitoba) and Emily Byrne (S, Reno, Nev.) will play for the Beavers. Earlier this season, Dixon became the all-time kills leader while Byrne became the all-time assists leader in Minot State history. Heading into the weekend, Dixon currently has 1,601 kills in her career and Byrne has 4,213 assists. Byrne is the only volleyball player in the history of the school to record over 4,000 assists.

CONFERENCE TAKES NOTICE: On Thursday, Nov. 6, Mallory Sall (Jr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) and Jen Dixon were named to the All-NSIC Second Team for their efforts this season. While Dixon leads the team in total kills this season (357), Sall has recorded the most kills per set (4.02). The duo has combined for 703 total kills on the season and they've also combined for 484 digs. This is the first time Sall has received All-Conference honors while Dixon was named to the second-team last season as well. 2014 also marks the first year head coach Travis Ward has landed two players on All-NSIC teams.

STEADILY IMPROVING: With a couple of wins this upcoming weekend, Minot State can secure a tenth place finish in the NSIC, three spots ahead of where they finished in 2013 and five spots ahead of where they finished in 2012. Pending a successful weekend, the Beavers will end with six more wins in the highly competitive NSIC than they had back in 2012, the team's first year in the conference.

BY THE NUMBERS
1.27: Minot State struggles to make blocks in their matches according to the statistics. The Beavers have the lowest number of blocks per set, coming in at 1.27 per set.

7-3: Pending two wins in the final two games of the season, Minot State has the ability to go 7-3 in the second half of the NSIC season. The Beavers won just one game in the first half of NSIC play.

8: In the Beavers previous match against Winona State, Minot State held a 14-8 advantage in the fifth set of play but a tremendous rally of eight straight points from the Warriors gave them the game and match with a 16-14 final set victory.