MATCHUPS: Minot State will travel to Mary on Tuesday at 7 p.m. before hosting two teams over the weekend. Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State will be competing in the MSU Dome on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m., respectively.

RECORDS: Minot State is 5-6 after beginning conference play and defeating Briercrest in its final nonconference game. Mary went 1-1 in its conference opening week to move its record to 6-5. Sioux Falls dropped its first two NSIC games, but keep a winning record at 6-4. Southwest Minnesota State holds a 7-3 record while being an even 1-1 in conference play.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Ben Kaszeta is in his second season at the front of the Beaver volleyball program. In his first season at MSU he led his team to a 3-24 record. 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 second 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. In her first season at Mary she led the Marauders to a 13-16 record gathering eight conference wins. Joel McCartney is in his sixth season as the head coach of Sioux Falls and 20th season overall as a head coach on the collegiate level. With a 78-85 record in his first five years at USF he has improved the play of the Cougars doubling their conference wins from his first season to his second. Before joining Sioux Falls, McCartney was the head coach at the University of Georgia for four seasons gathering a 62-55 record with the Bulldogs. Overall, through a 19-year collegiate career he holds a record of 425-243. Terry Culhane is in his 13th season as the head coach at Southwest Minnesota State. The SMSU graduate has posted a 312-87 record in his first 11 seasons with the Mustangs. Leading his team to the national championship last season, Culhane has led his team to 11 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Prior to joining the Mustangs, he was the head coach at Marshall High School where he guided his team to three state tournaments and was named Class AAA Coach of the Year in 2002.

RANKINGS: Southwest Minnesota State is the fifth ranked volleyball program in the country according to the AVCA September 19 coaches poll. Neither Minot State nor any of its other opponents received votes in the rankings.  

SERIES HISTORY: Minot State is 39-58 against Mary in a series that dates back to 1976, 9-10 against Sioux Falls in a series that began in 1989 and 0-5 against Southwest Minnesota State in a series that has been played since 2012.

LAST TIME OUT: The Beavers lost two games to Mary last season in matches that went to five sets and then four sets. On the road last year Brileigh Boyce recorded nine kills and had an attack percentage of .538. MSU failed to win a set on a road trip to Sioux Falls and SMSU last year, but over that weekend Kelsey Dewulf set up 41 passes that resulted in a kill.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State finished its nonconference schedule out with a win against Briercrest last week in what became the first home win for head coach Ben Kaszeta. The Beavers had another first as they won a set against No. 10 Northern State. It was the first set won at home against a ranked opponent since 2013. MSU scored 19 points on blocks last week to bring its total to 79 blocks on the year, a mark that ranked third in the conference.

NOTING THE MARAUDERS: Mary is led by two upperclassmen on the offense with senior Thayna Silva and junior Lauren Randall with over 100 kills apiece. Randall ranks second in the NSIC in kills per set with 4.6. She has the most kills in the conference at 186. Although they have recorded many kills on the year, their opponents have also defended many of the Marauders attacks. Mary's opponents have dug 16.6 balls per set this season, a mark that ranks third worst in the conference.

NOTING THE COUGARS: Through 10 games this season Sioux Falls has been able to land 23.8 percent of its attack attempts while keeping its opponents to an attack percentage of 18.2. Senior Jordan Calef is a defensive force for the Cougars as she has racked up 47 total blocks so far in 2016. Calef ranks third in the NSIC with 1.2 blocks per set. As a team, the Cougars have totaled 88 blocks (2.2 per set) to rank fourth in the conference.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Like Sioux Falls, Southwest Minnesota State has limited its opponents to an attack percentage of 18.2 percent. The Mustangs, however, have an attack percentage of their own sitting at 30.6. SMSU hosts a lethal combination with Taylor Reiss and Megan Larson. Larson, a setter is third in the NSIC with 12.17 assists per set while Reiss ranks first in the conference with 5.11 kills per set. Reiss is the lone NSIC player averaging more than five kills per set. The Mustangs are ranked in the top five as a team in all scoring categories except for aces served.

GOOD SERVICE: Head coach Ben Kaszeta has changed his team's serving strategy this season and it has worked so far. The second-year coach said that he is trying to pull teams out of their system by serving more aggressively. So far this season the Beavers have scored 80 points on aces, leading the NSIC. Compared to last season the aces total is night and day. In 2015 the Beavers totaled just 97 aces. With 18 matches left on the schedule this season Minot State needs just 17 more aces to match the mark set by Kaszeta in his first season. Sophomore Kelsey Dewulf is leading the charge with 22 aces alone. Dewulf ranks first in the NSIC with 22 aces and second in aces per set a 0.54.

FALLING UP: Freshman Emily Falldorf ended last weekend with back-to-back games recording an attack percentage of over 40 percent. With 93 kills this season she is tied with fellow freshman Shelby Spuller for the most kills on the team. Falldorf leads the team in attack percentage (100 or more attempts) after he strong performances with a season mark of .212. The Bemidji, Minn. native ranks second on the team with 29 blocks as well.

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK: Sophomore Brileigh Boyce was held out of the season's first eight games due to an injury suffered in the preseason. Boyce came back to record 19 kills in nine sets over the past three matches. With an attack percentage of .245 she ranks second on the team out of players with 40 or more attempts. She also recorded five total blocks against Briercrest and three digs to help the team defensively.

DIGGING GOLD: In her first two conference game of the 2016 season senior Cindy Pelo has averaged 5.71 digs per set. Those digs improved her season average to 4.51 which ranked as seventh-best in the NSIC. The recent improvement has also moved Pelo up in the MSU record book. With a 4.16 career average she currently sits as the No. 7 all-time.

BY THE NUMBERS

2: Times this season the Beavers have landed in the team record book for aces served. Hitting 21 against Lindenwood-Bellville was the second-best mark in school history while the 14 against Briercrest was tied for fourth-best.

4: Or more assists per set recorded by both Kelsey Dewulf and Janelle Nagy. Dewulf has a team-high 180 assists while Nagy has 160.  

36: Blocks totaled by freshman Hayley Swain. Swain ranks ninth in the NSIC in blocks per set with 0.95.