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All notes courtesy of SMSU athletics communications.
THIS WEEK
The No. 11 ranked SMSU volleyball team, after opening PE Gym play with a win against St. Cloud State and Minnesota State, faces a pair of NSIC South Division rivals this week.
SMSU opens play with a match on Thursday against Sioux Falls at the Stewart Center on the USF campus at 6 p.m.
The Mustangs then host Augustana for the 'SAAC Game of the Year' inside the PE Gym at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
All matches are listed in central time.
MATCH COVERAGE
Live stats and video for all matches will be available at SMSUmustangs.com
Stay up to date on the Mustangs throughout the weekend by downloading the official SMSU Athletics app.
SERIES HISTORY
SMSU will face Sioux Falls for the 27th time on Thursday with the Mustangs holding a 20-6 advantage over the Cougars.
USF won both matchups against the Mustangs last season, the first back-to-back wins for the Cougars in series history. Dating back to 2018, the Mustangs are 2-4 in matches inside the Taylor Center. Tyler Boddy holds a 4-3 record against USF as SMSU head coach.
The Mustangs will meet the Augustana Vikings for the 75th time on Saturday with SMSU holding a 39-34-1 lead in the series.
The Mustangs have not lost against the Vikings since Tyler Boddy's first year as head coach, and have not lost to Augustana in Marshall since 2019. Coach Boddy is 5-1 against AU as head coach of the Mustangs.
RECAP OF LAST WEEK
The Mustangs made their 2026 PE Gym debut last weekend defeating then No. 10 ranked St. Cloud State in four sets, and sweeping Minnesota State.
Mya Krystosek and Mollie Rupp finished the weekend with 24 kills each. Krystosek hit .322 in total and tallied 18 digs, while Rupp hit .438 on 48 total attacks.
Leah Jones added 20 kills, including 14 against the Huskies. Natalie Pilney tallied 19 kills and nine total blocks, while Ashley Peltier had 18 kills on 38 attacks.
Freshman Tatem Schmidt paced the Mustang offense with 47 assists in total, adding 17 digs. Sydney Thein added 46 assists, including a season-high 29 against SCSU.
Ashlynn Schroeder led the way defensively 29 digs, while Paige Steinmetz racked up 23 digs, which includes her third 14-dig match against MSU.
MUSTANGS BY THE NUMBERS
SMSU returns 11 letter winners from the 2025 team that won 21 games last season. The 2026 team features three seniors, four juniors, three sophomores, two redshirt freshman, and five true freshmen.
The Mustangs have collected 558 kills over the first 11 matches with a team hitting percentage of .276. SMSU is holding teams to a hitting percentage of .162.
Senior outside hitter Leah Jones leads the Mustangs with 118 kills and 3.19 kills per set. The Marshall, Minn., native has six matches of 10 or more kills, and is currently 12th all time in kills for SMSU.
Mya Krystosek is second in kills with 93. The senior outside hitter is also second in digs with 115 and a digs per set ratio of 3.11, while ranking third in kills per set with 2.51.
Middle blocker Natalie Pilney and Minnesota Duluth transfer Mollie Rupp are tied for third in kills with 92. Pilney is tied for first in total blocks (34), meanwhile Rupp is second in kills per set (2.56) and hitting percentage (.346).
Freshman middle blocker Lindsay Kruse is fifth on the team with 76 kills hitting a team-best .389. Kruse has four matches with nine or more kills and four matches hitting .400 or better, while tied for first in blocks with Pilney.
Sophomore libero Ashlynn Schroeder is currently pacing the Mustangs defensively with 161 digs and 4.35 digs per set. Schroeder has 15+ digs in six matches this year including a 25 dig match against Missouri Western.
Freshman setter Tatem Schmidt currently leads the Mustangs with 260 assists and an assist per set ratio of 7.03. Schmidt is also fourth on the team in digs with 107. The Huxley, Iowa, native has had 20 or more assists in 10 of 11 matches, and racked up 26 digs against Missouri Western.
Schmidt is also second in service aces with 13, behind only freshman Reese Drake with 14.
Junior setter Sydney Thein has collected 200 assists and 5.41 assists per set. Thein has four matches with 20+ assists and six matches with five or more digs.
SMSU AND THE NSIC IN THE POLLS
SMSU moved up three spots to No. 11 in the recent AVCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll, released Monday afternoon.
SMSU is one of five teams from the NSIC represented in the top 25. Wayne State and Concordia-St. Paul remain at No. 2 and No. 5 respectively, with WSC defeating CSP in a reverse sweep this past weekend. St. Cloud State falls three spots to No. 13, and Minnesota Duluth rises three spots to No. 20. Jamestown is receiving votes for the first time in the AVCA poll.
Following the AVCA poll released on Sep. 14, the Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 258 of the last 259 rankings, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006.
SMSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
The Mustangs have begun the 2026 season with team and individual placements amongst the NCAA statistical leader boards.
SMSU is ranked first in assists per set (14.27), first in kills per set (15.08) second in attacks per set (39.5).
The Mustangs are also ranked No. 11 in digs per set (18.0), No. 14 in hitting percentage (.276), and No. 35 in Match W/L percentage (.818).
Lindsay Kruse is ranked at No. 30 in hitting percentage (.389).