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MUSTANG HOOFPRINTS: SMSU busy hosting prep postseason contests

Hello Mustang Fans!

The action continues for the Southwest Minnesota State University Department of Athletics as we become a partner with the Minnesota State High School League to host section volleyball and football playoffs this week.

Section 3 Tournament volleyball, which began at SMSU’s R/A Facility on Tuesday, continues today and Saturday.

On Thursday, the Class A Section 3 North Division Tournament championship match will feature Minneota playing Central Minnesota Christian at 6 p.m. After that contest, the Class A Section 3 South Division Tournament championship match features Tracy-Milroy-Balaton playing Murray County Central at 7:30 p.m.

On Friday, Southwest Minnesota State is the host of four section championship football games at The Schwan Regional Event Center.

In 9-Man competition, No. 1 seed Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley (10-0) meets No. 2 seed Mountain Lake Area (10-0) at 12 p.m. In Class A Section 5, No. 1 seed Dawson-Boyd (9-1) takes on No. 2 seed Wabasso (9-1) at 2:30 p.m. In Class A Section 3, No. 1 seed Adrian (7-2) faces No. 3 seed Tracy-Milroy-Balaton (7-3) at 5 p.m. In Class 2A, Section 3, Jackson County Central (9-1) plays No. 2 seed Maple River (9-1).

On Saturday, SMSU is the host of volleyball Section 3 Tournament championship matches in Class 2A at 5:30 p.m. and in Class A at 7 p.m.

The R/A Facility and The Schwan Regional Event Center are great venues to host section competition. SMSU and the Department of Athletics are proud to host our area high school teams as they look to advance to the MSHSL state tournaments.

Congratulations and good luck to all the teams who will be competing at SMSU this Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

It takes a great effort by many departments at Southwest Minnesota State to successfully host playoff competition. A big thank you goes to Assistant Athletic Director Rolly Muller and the entire SMSU Department of Athletics staff for all the hard work and dedication they have during MSHSL state playoffs.

Last Sunday, our student-athletes and coaches were out and about in Marshall for the annual SMSU Work-a-thon.

As a member of NCAA Division II Athletics, the Mustangs are committed to providing our student-athletes opportunities in building character and creating a positive collegiate experience focusing on learning, service, passion, resourcefulness and balance.

The SMSU Work-a-thon is a civic engagement event that provides community members with help getting those fall chores done before winter hits southwest Minnesota. Our teams helped to rake leaves, clean garages and perform miscellaneous tasks for Marshall residents and businesses.

Thank you to our student-athletes and coaches who participated in Sunday’s service project.

For all the latest information on the SMSU Department of Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.

This Week in SMSU Athletics

Women’s Soccer

The SMSU women’s soccer team (14-1-1 overall, 10-1-1 NSIC) moved up from No. 25 last week to No. 19 in this week’s National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)/Continental Tire National College Top 25 poll. With a scoreless tie in double overtime at Minnesota State on Sunday, the Mustangs also moved into second in this week’s NCAA Division II Central Region rankings, right behind MSU.

The Mustangs went 1-0-1 last week recording a 3-0 win over Concordia-St. Paul and a 0-0 double-overtime tie with No. 4-ranked Minnesota State.

SMSU plays its last regular season home match at 3 p.m. today against Wayne State (1-14-1 overall, 1-11-1 NSIC) at The Schwan Regional Event Center. SMSU concludes its regular season by traveling to Sioux Falls, S.D., on Sunday to play Augustana College at 1 p.m.

Volleyball

The No. 8-ranked SMSU volleyball team (15-5, 10-2 NSIC) went 2-1 last week with victories over Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston after being upset last Tuesday by the University of Sioux Falls.

The Mustangs dropped two spots in this week’s AVCA national rankings. Concordia-St. Paul remained the No. 1 team in the ranking for the fifth consecutive week and earned all 48 first-place votes and 1,200 total points.

Central Missouri, which held the No. 3 spot and earned two first-place votes in last week’s poll, fell to No. 5 with its first loss of the season last weekend. Tampa (1,149 points) remained No. 2 for the second consecutive week, while Minnesota-Duluth (1,085) inched up to No. 3. BYU-Hawai’i (1,046) and Central Missouri (981) rounded out the top five. West Texas A&M (913) and Nebraska-Kearney (869) came in just ahead of the Mustangs and their 838 total points. Wingate (762) and Western Washington (718) rounded out the top ten. Other Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schools ranked in the poll were No. 18 Wayne State, Neb., and No.23 Northern State.

The Mustangs head north this weekend, competing at St. Cloud State at 7 p.m. Friday, before traveling to No. 3-ranked UMD for a 4 p.m. match Saturday. A win Saturday in Duluth would play big for the Mustangs, who are soon heading into postseason play.

Football

The SMSU football team (4-4 overall, 2-2 NSIC South) is coming off an exciting 52-48 win at Upper Iowa last week in Fayette.

Saturday’s contest will be the last home game of the season as the Mustangs welcome Winona State University (5-3 overall, 3-1 NSIC South) to Mattke Field at The Schwan Regional Event Center for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

SMSU enters the game tied for sixth in the conference standings, while WSU is tied for fourth place. The Mustangs are looking to snap a four-game losing streak to Winona State and earn just the third victory over WSU since 1993.

On Saturday, the SMSU football team will pay tribute to 15 seniors as they play their last game at The Schwan Regional Event Center. Those players include J.J. Bobrowicz, Tate Bunkers, Cody Condon, Anthony Dean, Kyle Hahn, Adam Iversen, Kyle Johnson, Justin Knakmuhs, Dashawn Miller, Brandon Puffer, Lance Schuveiller, Alex Sedrel, Jake Thiel, Britt Wickett and Brad Wiest.

Cross Country

The SMSU men’s cross country teams finished in eighth place out of 13 teams, while the women’s squad finished 11th out of 15 teams at the NSIC Championships held Saturday at Yankton Trails Park in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Augustana won the men’s team championship with 18 points, well ahead of second place Sioux Falls, which finished with 84 points. The SMSU men’s team finished with 218 points led by Trent Smith who finished in 24th place out of the field of 111.

Minnesota Duluth won the women’s team title with 50 points, while Augustana was second with 67 points. The SMSU women, who recorded 369 points, were led by Amanda Grengs, who finished the race in 63rd place.

Both SMSU teams will return to competition Saturday in the NCAA Region Championships, which will also be held at Yankton Trails Park in Sioux Falls.

Men’s Basketball

The Mustangs men’s basketball team chalked up bragging rights over the Alumni Team on Saturday with a 78-64 win on Andy Wiersma Day at SMSU.

William Giddings led the current Mustangs with a game-high 21 points, while former Mustang Jordan Miller ended up with 18 points for the Alumni.

SMSU continues exhibition play Sunday by hosting Wisconsin-Eau Claire starting at 4 p.m. at the R/A Facility.

Wrestling

The Mustangs are in action this weekend as they head over to Brookings, S.D. on Sunday to compete in the Daktronics Open at South Dakota State University. The tournament begins at 9:00 a.m.

Women’s Basketball

On Monday, the SMSU women’s basketball team will take the floor in an exhibition game versus St. Catherine at 7 p.m. at the R/A Facility.

I would like to wish all of our teams the best of luck this weekend!

Go Mustangs!

Trivia Contest

Congratulations to Kory Grant and Rick Haberman, who both provided the correct answers (at the same time) to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: In 2008, SMSU defeated Upper Iowa 38-31 on a last second hail mary pass, who was the quarterback that through the pass to win the game?

Josh Shudlick threw the hail mary pass to Sean Patrick O’Leary, leading the Mustangs to 38-31 victory over the Peacocks.

Trivia Question

When was the last time the Southwest Minnesota State women’s soccer team qualified for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament?

The first person to email me at MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.

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