Independent file photo Members of the SMSU volleyball team celebrate after scoring a point during their match against Wayne State on Sept. 16, 2017. The Mustangs will open their home and NSIC schedule tonight against Augustana University.

MARSHALL – The Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (5-3, 0-0) opens conference play tonight in its home opener versus Augustana (5-3, 0-0) in the PE Gym at 6 p.m. for SMSU’s annual “white out” game.

Sophomore setter Emma Thomssen said they’re excited to be back home and are ready to play in front of their supporting fans.

“It’s awesome; we’ve already received a lot of support, so having all of that support at home will help us out,” Thomssen said.

SMSU finished in second-place at the Colorado Premier Challenge this past weekend after going undefeated until the championship match and getting swept by Concordia St-Paul. SMSU heads into conference play ranked No. 7 in the latest AVCA Top-25 poll, which is one spot higher than last week. SMSU is the fifth NSIC school to rank in the top-25. Concordia-St. Paul leads the way ranked No. 2, Northern State ranked No. 3, Minnesota Duluth ranked No. 6, Southwest Minnesota State coming in at No. 7, and Wayne State coming in as No. 19.

In the first eight games of the season, Taylor Reiss passed Brooke Burmeister as sixth all-time kill leader with 1590 (.310) and Reiss also moved up to sixth as all-time point leader with 1805.5 (1590 kills, 75 assists, 48 solo blocks, and 185 block assists). Reiss was named MVP of the West Florida Invitational.

In her first year as setter, Thomssen as received all-tournament honors at the West Florida Invitational. She set a career-high 54 assist vs Wheeling Jesuit in that same tournament. She tied that career-high a week later at the Colorado Premier Challenge recording 54 assists against Colorado Christian on Aug. 31.

SMSU coach Terry Culhane said one of their biggest takeaways from their first two weekends of the season were they needed to improve on the defensive side of the net as well as sharpen their ball control.

“I think we learned that we have to be better defensively. When we were in Florida, those were four really tough teams and in Denver we played four additional good teams as well,” Culhane said. “I think we have to get better defensively and just with handling the ball. Passing, serving, we have to set a little bit better, we have to take of the ball better as hitters than what we’ve been doing.”

Culhane added that as they approach conference play this weekend against both Augustana and Wayne State College, they have to not expect things to happen and just continue to play smart both mentally and physically.

“Our hitting percentage is not what we would like, although when you play good teams, you don’t hit for high numbers typically. We just have to take care of the ball better and we have to understand how to play hard and smart,” Culhane said. “We’ve been guilty of just expecting things to happen and they haven’t happened at times because of what other teams are doing to us.”

Opponent

at a glance

AUGUSTANA

Augustana entered the season ranked 23rd in the AVCA preseason poll and sixth in the NSIC. This is the second year for head coach, Jennifer Jacobs, with the 5-3 Vikings. In her first season, the Vikings went 23-9. Courtney Place returns as a key offense scoring 449 kills last season, ranked third in NSIC. Payton Rosendahl, right side hitter, played in 29 matches last season and had 155 kills. Place was named to the all-tournament team at the Augustana Invitational last weekend. She had 63 kills over four matches, 15.75 kills per match, eight blocks, four assists, four aces, and 16 digs. Vikings finished 2-2 at the Invitational with wins against MSU Moorhead and Fort Hays State.

Series history

The Mustangs lead the nearly tied series 32-31-1, dating back to 1972. In the conference, Mustangs lead 10-2. Mustangs are 16-15 at home and 9-14-1 away, and 7-2 at neutral sites. The Mustangs won in five sets in the last meeting on Nov. 18, 2017 in the NSIC Tournament.

Since 2000, SMSU is 11-6 in home openers winning seven of its previous eight. The Mustangs won last season’s home opener to Wayne State, 3-0.

Culhane said both Augustana and Wayne State will be challenging matchups to open conference play, and they can’t allow themselves to wait for their opponents to make a mistake and give away points.

“Both Augustana and Wayne have been good opponents in our conference. We need to be ready to play mentally and physically and we can’t be so dependent on teams making mistakes to give us points because when you’re playing teams like that, they’re not going to give you a lot of points,” Culhane said. “We’re going to have earn them but that’s the way it goes in our conference, you don’t get too many freebies.”

Going into this week, Culhane said they’ve been focusing on being more efficient as a team and working on the things that will help themselves get better as the season goes on.

“We’re trying to operate in a more efficient way than we’ve been. Part of it is we need to make ourselves accountable when we go out onto the floor and not just show up,” Culhane said. “We’re just trying to make ourselves get better at the things that will make us better as a team; handling the ball and serving are two areas where we need to be more consistent.”

Southwest Minnesota State continues conference play on Saturday as the team travels to Wayne State for a match beginning at 1 p.m.

Culhane said like every team this weekend, they would like to go 2-0 on the week, but in order to do that, they need to take care of business on their home floor.

“I think you have to win at home, for one. And then going to Wayne is never easy and playing there is never easy,” Culhane said. “It would be great to go 2-0 at this point, but every coach is saying that. We have to play better and be more consistent to have a chance to do that.”

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