THIS WEEK: Minot State (2-1, 0-0) won two of its three games in the Alaska Fairbanks Nanook Classic to begin the season. The Beavers move on to its second and final tournament of the season, traveling to the Upper Iowa Invite Saturday and Sunday. MSU plays four teams in two days. South Dakota School of Mines currently sits at 2-2 while Michigan Tech is 4-0, Upper Iowa is 3-1 and Northern Michigan is 3-1.

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. Doug Tabbert has been named the interim volleyball head coach for the 2015 season for South Dakota Mines. Tabbert was the head coach of the Lady 'Rockers from 2003-2006. In 2006 he led the program to its second highest winning percentage with 16 wins. Tabbert coached the volleyball team at Cameron University (Okla.) from 2011 through 2013. Aaron Nelson is in his fourth year as the head coach of Upper Iowa. In his first three seasons Nelson led his team to a 36-51 record. Prior to being named the head coach he was an assistant for the 2010 National Champion Golden Bears of Concordia. Before joining Concordia, St. Paul Nelson was the interim head coach at St. Cloud State from November 2009 through March 2010.

RANKINGS: None of the teams in the tournament were ranked in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll. The NSIC is the most well represented conference in the AVCA poll as four Northern Sun teams are ranked in the top 5 and eight - or half of the conference - is at least receiving votes.

SERIES HISTORY: The Upper Iowa Tournament will be the first time Minot State has played Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan. Minot State currently leads the all-time series against South Dakota Mines 22-20. Having only faced Upper Iowa three times the Beavers trail in the series 1-2.

LAST TIME OUT: The last time the Lady 'Rockers played the Beavers they suffered a sweep in three sets. Minot State had 46 kills compared to South Dakota Mines 22. MSU also had just half of the errors in that match. Minot State began its series against Upper Iowa in 2012. The teams split their first two matches both in five sets and UI won the last match in three by outhitting MSU 45 kills to 38. The Peacocks recorded a hitting percentage of .169 compared to the Beavers .104.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: The Beavers will be under new leadership with head coach Ben Kaszeta after former coach Travis Ward led the team to a 47-76 record over four seasons. The team will try to fix their early season slumps as they have gone 6-12 in opening tournaments and invites since 2010. In the opening tournament the Beavers finished 2-1 with the help of all-tournament players Mallory Sall (Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) and Kelsey Dewulf (Fr., Huntley, Ill.). Sall ended the tournament with 46 kills and four served aces while Dewulf finished with 108 assists and four served aces in three matches.

NOTING THE HARDROCKERS: South Dakota Mines finished 2-2 in their first tournament of the year at Washburn. The Hardrockers have outhit their opponents with 209 kills compared to the 197 kills they have allowed. They have served 30 aces in 17 sets and blocked 21 kills. In 2014 South Dakota Mines played five NSIC teams and finished 2-3 against Northern Sun opponents. The two matches the Lady 'Rockers won went to five sets.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: Michigan Tech is coming off a perfect weekend at the Northern Michigan Wildcat open. The Huskies won all four of their games in three sets including a game against Upper Iowa. In 2014 MTU finished 11-16. The Huskies have not qualified for their conference tournament or the NCAA tournament since 2009.

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Apart from an opening loss against Michigan Tech the Peacocks were able to win the remainder of their three games in the Northern Michigan Wildcat Open, including a 3-2 win against Northern Michigan, to begin their season. Between tournaments the Peacocks played Waldorf College willing in three sets. Jennifer Mundt has been the offensive leader for Upper Iowa so far this year with 74 kills in 16 sets.

NOTING THE WILDCATS: Northern Michigan began their season at home hosting the Wildcat Open. In their four games they were able to finish 3-1 by the end of the weekend with a sole loss coming against Upper Iowa. The Wildcats sport two offensive weapons in sophomore Kayla Chosa (52 kills) and senior Lisa Studnicka (56 kills) who highlighted the box scores in the opening games.  

OUTSIDE JUSTICE: Starting all three matches as an outside hitter Taylor Butters (Jr., Spokane Valley, Wash.) finished the first weekend with 25 kills and six blocks. Last season Butters made six starts recording 31 kills. Fitting into her new role as an offensive leader she was able to top her previous career high by tallying 15 kills in the season opener against Alaska Fairbanks.

SALL'S SENSATIONAL SCORING: Despite ranking sixth in sets played with 94, Mallory Sall (Sr. Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) was able to lead the team in points last season with 435.5. Scoring 4.63 points per set Sall was able to rank as the number 2 scorer in the NSIC. So far in 2015 Sall has averaged 3.83 kills per set.

DIGGING FOR HELP: After getting 1,778 digs in 2014, good enough for sixth in the NSIC, Minot State will be looking for players to step into new roles after graduating four of the top five dig leaders. Rachel Fagerburg (So., Tempe, Ariz.) is the sole returner who recorded more than 150 digs last season as she finished the year with 237. Fagerburg is currently third on the team with 27 digs behind Logan Desorcy's (Fr., St. Andrews, Manitoba) 39 and Mallory Sall's (Sr. Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) 34.

HITTING THEIR MARK: Minot State was 8-3 in 2014 when hitting over 20 percent in their attack attempts. When the team hit under 20 percent it only won three times while losing 15. In both games the Beavers won this season they hit over 25 percent of their attacks. In the lone loss they only hit 10 percent.

BY THE NUMBERS
3: Seasons in a row the MSU volleyball team has finished the year with a record under .500. Coach Ben Kaszeta will attempt to break that streak in his first season with the team.

108: Assists from freshman Kelsey Dewulf (Huntley, Ill.) in the first three games. Dewulf averaged 9.82 assists per set. Compare that to Minot State's all-time leader Emily Byrne who averaged 10.64 assists per set in her final season.

1,025: Attacks averaged per year from Mallory Sall (Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia). If Sall continues to reach 1,000 attacks she will finish her career with the second most attacks attempted in school history. Sall is currently on pace for 999.