Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University outside hitter Leah Jones celebrates a point during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference match against Minnesota Crookston on Saturday at the PE Gym in Marshall. The Mustangs will go on the road this weekend to take on No. 13 St. Cloud State and No. 26 Minnesota State.

MARSHALL — Coming off a pair of sweeps last week, the No. 12 Southwest Minnesota State University volleyball team has a pair of road matches this weekend against top competitors in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Mustangs will take on defending conference champions No. 13 St. Cloud State on Friday, and wrap up the road trip on Saturday at Minnesota State University Mankato.

St. Cloud, the NSIC preseason favorite, and Mankato currently sit in second and fourth place in conference standings as of Wednesday, with SMSU in eighth.

“Getting to play two top teams in our league on back-to-back days and on the road, that certainly is a challenging thing, and it will be a good test for our team,” SMSU head coach Tyler Boddy said. “We just talked a lot about through the beginning part of our season, that as we get into conference play, we’re going to need to be ready to play good teams on back-to-back days … Ultimately, we need to worry about Friday first and see how that goes. Win or lose, we’re going to play again on Saturday against another good team.”

SMSU (10-2, 3-2 NSIC) will be looking to get back in the win column against both the Mavericks and Huskies. The Mustangs fell to Mankato in five sets the last time the two met in 2024 on Oct. 30, and were swept by St. Cloud a few weeks prior on Oct. 5.

St. Cloud and SMSU will play at Halenbeck Hall on Friday at 6 p.m., and the Mustangs and MSUM will face-off at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Taylor Center.

Live stats and video for both matches will be available at SMSUmustangs.com.

On a quest against the

undefeated Huskies

St. Cloud is currently one of three NSIC teams still undefeated in conference play at 5-0, alongside Wayne State and Concordia-St. Paul. The Huskies are 10-3 overall, and were picked to finish first overall in the conference in the NSIC preseason poll after winning the conference tournament last year, finishing 29-3 overall and 18-0 in conference.

SMSU was picked to finish third in the conference.

“When we went into that match last year, we had had a good start to what we were doing. They [St. Cloud] were really good last year, and they were ready to bring it,” Boddy said. “I just remember telling our team after that one, ‘That’s a good team.’ We tried to battle with them. They just were much better than us that day. They have a couple of different kids who graduated from their team from last year, so it’ll be a little bit different that way … We’re fortunate enough that we have all of our passing kids back from last year. But, every year is just so different and the dynamic of each team. Our team will be well-prepared.”

The Huskies currently lead the conference in kills, averaging 14.86 per set. They also are second in limiting opponent kills to 10.98 a set, and second in assists averaging 13.55. SMSU currently leads the conference with 13.67 assists per set.

SMSU struggled against St. Cloud last season, falling in sets of 20-25, 19-25 and 23-25. The Huskies limited the Mustangs to a .150 hitting percentage, with all players finishing in single-digit kills.

Karli Arkell and Leah Jones led SMSU with nine kills each, while Sydney Thein had 20 digs.

The Mustangs will look to limit St. Cloud senior middle blocker Ella Thompson this time around, who was the NSIC’s Preseason Player of the Year.

In last season’s match, Thompson led all players with 20 kills and six blocks. She currently leads St. Cloud with 147 kills on the season, averaging 3.68 kills per set on a .345 hitting percentage. She’s also the team’s leading blocker.

“What they do a good job with, and what we’re trying to do is do a good job of, is spreading the ball out amongst five kids,” Boddy said. “It’s all pretty evenly spread out that way, so you can’t really key in on just one kid. That’s what I think makes the best teams the best, is if they can truly have that many weapons.”

Managing the Mavericks

The Mustangs and Mavericks went through a five-set thriller when the two met last year, with SMSU ultimately coming up short in sets of 25-21, 19-25, 23-25, 28-26 and 7-15.

“They [MSUM] played really hard down that stretch. I thought our team battled, too, but our team, trust me, they remember that one,” Boddy said. “We went to Mankato and scrimmaged them at some point before our preseason tournament. So, we already got to talk about it … They’ll have it in the back of their minds with the idea that they’re going to use it [the scrimmage] to try to make sure we can come out ahead this time.”

Mankato is currently 12-1 on the season, and 4-1 in NSIC play. It sits just two spots behind St. Cloud in the current NSIC standings. The Mavericks finished the 2024 season 18-9 overall and 10-8 in conference, and were picked to finish ninth this year in the preseason poll.

Sophomore right side and outside hitter Avery Klein, NSIC Preseason Player to Watch, will be a contributor SMSU will look to slow down.

Klein currently ranks second on the Mavericks in kills with 128 on a 3.43 hitting percentage, averaging 3.12 a set. Junior Mary Satori leads the team with 132 kills on a .281 hitting percentage, and 3.14 a set.

Mankato currently tops conference standings in holding opponents to a .125 hitting percentage with a conference-low 9.81 kills per set. The Mavericks also lead the NSIC with 2.64 service aces a set.

SMSU and MSUM fought in a highly-competitive match on the defensive end last season, both teams logging 115 digs. Klein led the Mavericks with 23, while McKenzie Tolk had a team-high 32 for the Mustangs.

“We’ve watched them enough this week, and just playing early on in that scrimmage, I’m impressed with their libero [Ellie Kline] and their back row kids,” Boddy said. “I would expect a lot of that on our end, too. There can be a lot of long rallies, there could be some low hitting percentages potentially in that one. Both teams trying to duke it out against each other defensively.”

Five different players had double-digit kills and digs for SMSU, led by since-graduated Emma VanHeel’s 17 kills. MSUM was led by Emma Loveall’s 23 kills, while Klein had another 20. SMSU was limited to a .170 hitting percentage, while Mankato recorded a .243.

So far for the Mustangs

SMSU currently ranks second in the NSIC in opponent hitting percentage behind MSUM with a .160, and first in assists and digs. The Mustangs average 13.67 assists and 17.27 digs per set. They’re also fourth in kills and blocks.

Jones currently leads SMSU with 164 kills on the season, averaging 3.64 a set on a .253 hitting percentage.

Tolk is the Mustangs’ anchor on the defensive end with 201 digs, averaging 4.47 a set. Thein is the team’s primary facilitator with 521 assists, 11.58 per set.

SMSU heads into the weekend after picking up a pair of conference sweeps last week over Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minnesota Crookston, opening up home play.