THIS WEEK: Minot State starts a tough stretch where they face seven nationally ranked opponents out of the the next 11 matches. MSU begins the weekend at St. Cloud State Friday at 7 p.m. and then plays No. 1 ranked Minnesota Duluth Saturday at 4 p.m. The Duluth matchup opens a set of four straight teams either ranked or receiving votes for the Beavers.

RECORDS: Minot State (3-9, 0-5) went 0-3 last week taking two matches to five sets. St. Cloud State (5-8, 1-4) lost all three games in three sets last week. Minnesota Duluth (11-2, 4-1) went 2-1 last week falling to No. 19 Northern State.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Ben Kaszeta is in his first season at the front of the Beaver volleyball program. Kaszeta worked previously as an assistant for Terry Gamble at Jacksonville State in 2014 and McNeese State in 2013. Prior to his work under Gamble, Kaszeta was the head coach at NCAA Division II Lake Superior State from 2010-2012. He has been coaching since 2007 when he started his coaching career at Mott Community College. Chad Braegelmann is in his first season as the head coach for St. Cloud State. In seven seasons at the University of Minnesota-Morris, Braegelmann coached his team to a 129-91 record. In 2013 Minnesota-Morris won a share of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference title with a 23-12 record along with a 12-2 conference record. Beginning his career in 2001 he coached at Colby-Sawyer College posting a 156-80 record and winning two conference championships. Jim Boos, the coach of the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, has coached his team to a school record 195 wins in 13 seasons. Now in his 14th year Boos has set the bar high for his team as he has taken UMD to 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. Boos has several coaching awards including being named AVCA National Coach of the Year in 2004, four-time AVCA Central Region Coach of the Year, and three-time NSIC Coach of the Year.

RANKINGS: Minnesota Duluth was voted the No. 1 team in the September 29 American Volleyball Coaches' Association Poll with 35 of the 48 number one votes. Neither Minot State nor St. Cloud State received any votes.

SERIES HISTORY: The Beavers have a short history with both St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth. Since 2011 Minot State has gone 1-5 against St. Cloud State winning its only game last season in conference play. Since 2012 Minnesota Duluth has yet to lose a match against Minot State boasting a 4-0 record.

LAST TIME OUT: In 2014 St. Cloud State and Minot State split their two meetings, one in a tournament and one in conference action, both matches only lasting three sets each. In the first win over St. Cloud State in school history MSU had four players hit 10 or more kills including Mallory Sall (Sr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) with 12 and Tarah Dabovich (Sr., MH, Phoenix, Ariz.) with 10. When the Beavers faced No. 2 Minnesota Duluth last season they were swept in three sets by being held to a .101 attack percentage including a -.029 percentage in the third and final set.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Despite falling in all three matches last week Minot State improved on many areas including their serves and blocks. With only 28 served aces in the first nine games of the season the Beavers served 17 in their three previous matches. Along with better serving MSU has improved their blocking ability with 26 blocks last week compared to the 47 blocks in the first nine matches.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: In their final two games played the Huskies hit an attack percentage of less than 10 percent in losses against MSU Moorhead and Northern State. Prior to those games St. Cloud State had not hit lower than 15 percent but just once against Minnesota Crookston where they hit .125. Their lone conference win came against Bemidji State on September 15 when they hit a .241 percentage by landing 60 kills in four sets.   

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: When Minnesota Duluth lost to No. 19 Northern State on September 25 last week it was the first conference loss suffered since October 19, 2013 when they lost to Northern State then as well. Those losses from NSU bookend a 39 game winning streak against NSIC opponents in the regular season at in conference tournament games. The Bulldogs bounced back in their next game beating MSU Moorhead three sets to none, outhitting them 51 kills to 28.

TAR(AH)-ING UP THE RECORD BOOK: In the three matches played last week Tarah Dabovich (MH, Phoenix, Ariz.) blocked 15 attack attempts. Prior to those three matches Dabovich only blocked 18 attempts in nine matches. With the stepped up play she will surely cement herself in the MSU records. The senior already sits at the number two spots for block solos (48) and block assists (183), a statistic that has only been kept track of since 2007. She is also currently in the top ten in total blocks with 231. If she averages the same amount of blocks the rest of the year she could find herself in the top five in total career blocks. Currently the fifth place spot belongs to Crystal Holen who recorded 260 blocks playing in 2000 and 2001.

DEFENSIVE DEBUT: Freshman Logan Desorcy (L, St. Andrews, Manitoba) is leading Minot State on the defensive end with 177 digs. Digging 3.93 balls per set makes her just one of two players with more than three digs per set. Decorcy has only ended a match with less than 10 digs twice this season, once early in the season when she was not playing the libero position and once in a three-set match against Northern State.

EARLY CONFERENCE STRUGGLES: The 0-5 start to conference play this season isn't that far off from where Minot State was a year ago. Five games into their conference schedule the Beavers were 1-4 with the sole win coming against the University of Mary. MSU went 2-9 in its first 11 games of the year in 2014 before ending with an 8-12 record.  

BY THE NUMBERS

2: Matches the Beavers served more aces than their opponents last week. MSU has only accomplished that four times total in 2015.

6: Times Shaunessy Dauwalder (Jr., MH, Stanley, N.D.) has hit a .250 attack percentage or higher in a match this season. She leads the team in attack percentage with at least 100 attempts at .245.

23: Kills from Mallory Sall (Sr., OH, Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) against the University of Mary last week. Sall's record of most kills in a match is 30.