THIS WEEK: Minot State has its second short week of the year, traveling to the University of Mary Tuesday before battling No. 21 Augustana University and No. T6 Wayne State College on the road Friday and Saturday.

RECORDS: Minot State (3-15, 0-11) went 0-2 last week in games against No. 25 Winona State and Upper Iowa. The University of Mary (8-12, 3-8) also lost its two games against Winona State and Upper Iowa. Augustana (14-5, 7-4) split games last week with a loss to Minnesota Duluth and a win against St. Cloud State. Wayne State (17-3, 9-2) won both of its games against Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud 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. Thais Franca is also in her debut season with Mary as she took over the program in December of 2014. The former All-American has coaching experience dating back to 2007 and was named a head coach of St. Andrews Presbyterian College in 2009. As a player in four years, on three different teams, Franca has a record of 149-17. Dan Meske is in his first year as the head coach at Augustana. Before joining the Vikings, Meske was an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska for eight seasons. In his time at Nebraska the Huskers won three Big 12 Championships and made the NCAA tournament in all eight years Meske was present. In his playing career at Ohio State he appeared in 117 matches helping the Buckeyes to a national semifinal appearance in 2005. Scott Kneifl is in his 11th season as the head coach at Wayne State. In his first 10 seasons the Wildcats have posted a record of 251-87, making nine NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and one NSIC Tournament title. Wayne State has been ranked in the top 25 of the AVCA Division II Coaches Poll every week since September 28, 2009. Prior to being named the head coach, Kneifl was an assistant with the Wildcats for two years.

RANKINGS: Augustana is the No. 21 team in the Oct. 19 American Volleyball Coaches' Association Poll while Wayne State is tied for the No. 6 spot. Minot State and Mary did not received any votes.

SERIES HISTORY: The Beavers have a long history with Mary dating back to 1976. The Marauders lead the series with a 57-39 record. Augustana has played Minot State fewer times, but their first match came in 1977. Augustana is 6-0 against MSU. Wayne State has recorded a 4-0 lead in the series against the Beavers dating back to 2012.

LAST TIME OUT: Earlier this season Minot State hosted Mary, taking them to five sets, but failing to close out a victory. In the loss Mallory Sall (OH, Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) had a season-high 23 kills. The teams traded sets back and forth with wins for Mary coming in the first, third and fifth sets. Augustana was able to defeat MSU in three sets last season by out striking the Beavers 48 kills to 31. The Vikings also posted an attack percentage of .312. Wayne State also swept Minot State in 2014. The Wildcats played well defensively holding the Beavers to an attack percentage of .050.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State is heading back on the road this week for a three-game road series beginning Tuesday against rival Mary. With good individual performances from the Beavers head coach Ben Kaszeta said his team needs to be better as a unit when those players have good games. Senior Tarah Dabovich (MH, Sr., Phoenix, Ariz.) posted double digit kills for the fourth time against Winona State while Logan Desorcy (L, Fr., St. Andrews, Manitoba) tallied her second best performance of the season against Upper Iowa with 19 digs.

NOTING THE MARAUDERS: After starting off conference play 3-2 the Marauders have lost six straight games. During those six game Mary has not won a single set. With three players tallying more than 150 kills the Marauders have plenty of weapons offensively they have been able to use including Thayna Silva and Lauren Randall who have each hit over 190 kills.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Three of the four losses Augustana has suffered in conference play have come against ranked opponents, but the Vikings have yet to be swept. Augustana has been able to play a strong defensive game this season with two players recording more than 200 digs and holding their opponents to an average attack percentage of .177. Offensively the Vikings have been reliable hitting an attack percentage of .244.

NOTING THE WILDCATS: Wayne State has also succeeded defensively, leading the NSIC in digs with 1146 and averaging 18.48 digs per game. The next closest team is Augustana who averages 17.07 digs per game. The Wildcats also lead the conference in service aces with 109, a mark that is 15 higher than the next closest team. The player leading Wayne State is senior Katie Hughes who has a team-high 230 kills and 320 digs.

SALL-TON OF SWAT: In eight career matches against Mary, Mallory Sall (OH, Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) has averaged 4.23 kills per set. Compared to her career average of 3.57 it is easy to see that Sall performs better against the in-state rival. During her freshman year Sall was able to hit her career-high 30 kills in four sets. This year Sall hit her season-high 23 kills in the first match against Mary. The Beavers have posted a 5-2 record against the Marauders since Sall joined the team in 2012.

BOYCE'S LIFTOFF: The Houston, Texas native, Brileigh Boyce (OH, R-Fr.) has seen additional time in the last three games with the Beavers accumulating 11 kills, five digs and six blocks in six sets played. Making three back-to-back appearances is big for the freshman as she has only appeared in 10 matches this season. With seven kills against Concordia, St. Paul she was able to record her career high in conference play. He career high came against Northern Michigan on September 12 when she tallied eight kills on 16 attempts and zero errors.

SETTING THE PACE: Over the past four matches setter Kelsey Dewulf (Fr., Huntley, Ill.) has averaged 9.92 assists per set including a career-high 11.67 assists per set against Minnesota State. Four times this season Dewulf has averaged above 10 assists per set, two of them coming in the last four matches. The first year player currently ranks in the top 10 in assists per game in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

BY THE NUMBERS

2.4: More kills, on average, opponents land against Minot State per set. The Beavers average 11 kills per set while their opponents average 13.4.

5: MSU players with over 100 kills after last week's games. Mallory Sall (OH, Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) is the only Beaver with more than 150.

6: Times the Beavers have won the second set in a match. That is the set MSU has won the most of, only winning once in the opening set, three times in the third set and twice in the fourth and fifth sets.