LAST TIME OUT
- The No. 17 ranked Southwest Minnesota State volleyball team (12-4, 5-4 NSIC) defeated the Winona State Warriors (10-7, 5-4 NSIC) Saturday afternoon in a three set sweep, 25-17, 25-18, 25-13.
- Mya Krystosek led the Mustangs with 12 kills, hitting .367, with five digs. Leah Jones and Ashley Peltier had 11 kills each, and both hit .579 on 19 attacks.
- McKenzie Tolk led SMSU with 14 digs, and Sydney Thein had 37 assists and 12 digs.
- As a team, the Mustangs hit .484 (49-3-95) while the Warriors, led in kills by Kenna Kornely with 16, hit .225 (39-16-102).
- The .484 mark is the third highest hitting percentage in a match in Mustang volleyball history, and the three hitting errors are the least in a match in the last 25 years for SMSU.
2025 OUTLOOK
- SMSU returns 12 letter winners from its 2024 team that finished with a 23-6 overall record and made the NCAA Tournament for the 18th time in program history. The 2025 team features three seniors, four juniors, five sophomores, a redshirt freshman, and six true freshmen.
- SMSU senior libero, McKenzie Tolk, was named an NSIC ‘Player to Watch’. Tolk earned AVCA All-American honorable mention honors in 2024, leading the Mustangs with 605 digs, while averaging a school single-season record 5.4 digs per set. A two-time All-NSIC second team honoree, Tolk enters the 2025 season ranking 10th in team history with 1,354 digs.
- Junior outside hitter Leah Jones returns to the team after earning All-NSIC second team honors last season, and ranking second on the team with 326 kills and first with 1,073 attacks.
- Junior right-side/middle blocker Ashley Peltier, an All-NSIC second team honoree, returns after finishing fourth on the team in 2024 with 295 kills, while hitting .284 on 728 attacks.
- Sophomore setter Sydney Thein received 2024 All-NSIC first team honors, while dishing out a team-high 1,294 assists and was third on the squad with 370 digs. Thein was seventh in the NCAA with 11.55 assists per set.
HEAD COACH TYLER BODDY
- Tyler Boddy is in his fourth season as head coach in 2025 and has a career record of 81-23 overall, including 48-18 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with two NCAA tournament appearances (2023 & 2024).
- Boddy, who spent 10 years as an assistant coach at SMSU, became the fifth head coach in the program’s 50-year history on Dec. 17, 2021.
- During his tenure at SMSU, the program has appeared in nine NCAA tournaments, including finishing as NCAA national runners-up in 2014. SMSU has a combined record of 317-89 which includes two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season titles and two NSIC tournament championships.
- Boddy, a native of New Ulm, Minn., came to SMSU after spending two seasons (2010-11) as an assistant coach at Wisconsin-Oshkosh and one season (2009) at Ripon College. Boddy has also had a successful coaching career in club volleyball with his Southwest Minnesota Volleyball Club teams winning national championships in 2014 and 2018.
MORE ON AUGUSTANA
- 2025 Record: 8-9, 2-7 NSIC
- Current NSIC Ranking: 11th (as of Oct. 14)
- Head Coach: Jennifer Jacobs, 9th season
- The Vikings started their season 6-2, participating in the Chadron State (Neb.) Classic and the 2025 Fort Hays State Tiger Classic.
- Last week the Vikings lost both their matches, losing in three sets against No. 11 St. Cloud State, and in four sets against No. 25 Minnesota State.
- Senior outside hitter Maya Wente currently leads the Vikings with 90 kills on the season, averaging 2.81 kills per set, and leads the team with nine solo blocks, and 26 total blocks.
SMSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKS
- The Mustangs have started the 2025 season with team and individual placements amongst the NCAA statistical leader boards.
- SMSU rank No. 12 in DII in kills per set (14.16), No. 15 in hitting percentage as a team (.262), and are in the top 50 in digs per set (16.90)
- The Mustangs are currently ninth in assists per set (13.44) and are No. 15 in total assists (847)
- Leah Jones is No. 34 in kills per set with 3.85, and is currently No. 22 in total kills (239).
- Sydney Thein is currently fourth in DII with 721 assists and fifth with 11.44 assists per set.
SMSU IN THE AVCA POLL
- SMSU moves up two spots, from No. 17 to No. 15 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Week 6 Poll released on Oct. 13.
- SMSU is one of seven NSIC schools represented in the recent poll, with Wayne State leading the conference at No. 7. Concordia-St. Paul falls two spots to No. 10 followed by St. Cloud State at No. 11. The Mustangs are at No. 15, followed by Minnesota Duluth, who falls four spots from last week to No. 17. Northern State moves to No. 22, and Minnesota State falls three spots to No. 25.
- Following the AVCA poll released on Oct. 13, the Mustangs have now been ranked in the Top 25 for 247 of the last 248 rankings, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006.
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