SMSU IN THE NSIC TOURNAMENT
Last WEEKEND
- SMSU began its final weekend of regular season play with a bang, staying resilient to defeat the MSU Moorhead Dragons 30-28, 25-9, 19-25, 21-25, 18-16 in five sets on Friday evening inside Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse.
- Emma VanHeel led the way with 19 kills on an efficient .372 hitting percentage and 10 digs for a double-double. Ashley Peltier followed with 16 kills on .361 hitting and jumped for a pair of solo blocks on defense. Saari Kuehl recorded 12 kills, Leah Jones posted 11 kills, and Karli Arkell batted down 10 kills. Jones added 17 digs for a double-double and jumped for three blocks.
- Sydney Thein supported the offense with 60 assists. She also recorded five kills and a pair of aces offensively and notched a double-double with 18 digs on defense.
- McKenzie Tolk led the SMSU defense to a season-high 117 digs. Tolk recorded 26 digs and supported offensively with seven assists. Mya Krystosek and Kennedy Drake recorded 18 and 17 digs, respectively.
- SMSU battled to earn a five-set win over No. 18 Northern State 18-25, 25-17, 25-17, 14-25, 15-9 in the final regular season NSIC match on Saturday.
- Karli Arkell led the way with a career-high 16 kills on an efficient .406 hitting percentage and jumped up for three blocks. Ashley Peltier followed with 15 kills on .233 hitting and jumped for five block assists on defense. Leah Jones and Emma VanHeel recorded 12 kills apiece. Jones added 16 digs for a double-double and VanHeel jumped for five block assists.
- Sydney Thein supported the offense with 52 assists. She also recorded three kills and an ace offensively and notched a double-double with 15 digs on defense.
- McKenzie Tolk recorded 25 digs and supported offensively with four assists. Mya Krystosek and Kennedy Drake recorded 12 and eight digs, respectively.
MUSTANG MACHINES
- SMSU ranks first in the NSIC in digs per set (19.27), and assists per set (13.77), while ranking second in kills per set (14.53), and sixth in service aces per set (1.65) and in team hitting pct. (.238).
- Senior outside hitter Saari Kuehl leads SMSU in hitting with 318 kills (3.09 per set), followed by sophomore outside hitter Leah Jones with 299 kills (2.90 per set). Senior middle blocker Emma VanHeel comes in third with 289 kills while sophomore right side hitter Ashley Peltier adds 265 kills.
- VanHeel also leads the Mustang blockers with 109 blocks.
- Redshirt freshman setter Sydney Thein anchors the offense with 1,192 assists (11.57 per set) while supporting the attack with 79 kills on .321 hitting. Thein adds 334 digs and 28 service aces.
- Junior libero McKenzie Tolk leads the defense with 546 digs (5.30 per set) while supporting the offense with 98 assists.
SMSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
- The Mustangs currently hold multiple team and individual placements amongst the weekly NCAA statistical leader boards.
- SMSU ranks third in the nation in assists per set (13.77) and digs per set (19.27), while ranking eighth in Division II in kills per set (14.60).
- The Mustangs sit at No. 5 in total assists (1,418), No. 7 in total kills (1,497), and No. 11 in total digs (1,985).
- Sydney Thein comes in at No. 6 in assists per set (11.57) and in total assists (1,192), while McKenzie Tolk ranks No. 22 in digs per set (5.30) and No. 20 in total digs (546).
SERIES HISTORY
- Today will be the 77th meeting between SMSU and NSU, with the Mustangs leading 65-11 in the all-time series
- The Mustangs have defeated the Wolves in the nine of the last 10 match-ups.
- SMSU defeated NSU twice in the regular season, with both matches playing to five sets. The Mustangs picked up the first win at home in come-from-behind fashion before securing the series sweep this past Saturday.
- SMSU is 29-2 all-time at home versus NSU.
MORE ON Northern State
- NSU closed the regular season 20-6 overall and 12-6 in NSIC play. The Wolves finished their regular season schedule with a 3-0 win over Augustana before sufferng a 3-2 loss to SMSU on Saturday.
- The Wolves have earned a seed in the postseason tournament for seven consecutive seasons, and suffered a 3-0 loss to St. Cloud State in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals a season ago.
- Natalia Szybinska leads the Wolves offense with 302 kills. Szybinska adds 51 digs and 45 blocks.
- Hanna Thompson follows behind with 263 kills and helps defensively with 86 digs and 40 blocks.
- Keri Walker is the anchor for the offense, putting up a team-high 1,035 assists while holding it down defensively with 287 digs, good enough for second on the team. Walker adds 29 service aces and 56 kills on .285 hitting.
- The NSIC Libero of the Year, Abby Meister, excels on the back line with a team-high 543 digs to go with 19 service aces and 28 assists. Abby Brooks ranks fourth with 195 kills and leads the NSU blocking unit with 114 blocks.
- Morissen Samuels ranks third with 247 kills and 64 blocks, while helping defensively with 68 digs.
- NSU is averaging 13.1 kills per set on 24.4 percent hitting while opponents average 12.6 kills per set on 17.8 percent hitting.