THE OPENING SERVE: Riding a seven-match winning streak, the University of Minnesota Duluth will venture into the hostile territories of Southwest Minnesota State University and the University of Sioux Falls this weekend. The first of two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches will be a battle of top-10 clubs with the No. 10 Mustangs hosting the No. 5 Bulldogs Friday night at 6:00 p.m. The Cougars welcome in UMD the following day at 2:00 p.m. to close out the Bulldogs' short two-match road stint.

SCOUTING REPORT ON SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE: The Mustangs (12-5; 7-2 NSIC) are ranked No. 10 in the country according to the AVCA poll. SMSU returns home after going 3-1 during its road series including sweeps over Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston.

Taylor Reiss leads the Mustangs with 353 kills and 5.69 kills per set. Reiss, the 2017 AVCA Player of the Year, actually leads the nation n in both of those categories. The reigning NSIC player of the Year also leads the team with a .303 hitting percentage and is second on the team with 3.44 digs per set.

Meg Schmidt and Angela Young are the second and third options in the Mustang offense with 150 and 140 kills, respectively. Kalyee Burmeister is the leader defensively with 342 digs or 3.92 digs per set. Emma Thomssen has 12.31 assists per set and Sarina Smith paces the Mustangs with 0.60 block per set.

SMSU is 10th in the nation with 14.34 kills per set and 36th with 18.24 digs per set. That mark is second in the NSIC behind Upper Iowa. They are 13th in the country with a .258 attack percentage.

SCOUTING REPORT ON SIOUX FALLS: The Cougars (11-6; 6-3 NSIC) are tied for fifth in the conference standings. Sioux Falls has won three straight including its sixth sweep of the season last time out against Minnesota Crookston. 

Bria Barfnecht leads the Cougars with 3.28 kills per set. Lexi Scott is second with 2.78 kills per set while Averey Taksich is next with 2.68 kills per set. Scott is also the clubhouse leader in blocks per set averaging just over a block (1.02). Kasandra Springer heads the defensive group with 3.27 digs per set while Krista Goerger is averaging 10.09 assists per set.

The Cougars are extremely effective at the point of attack, registering a .283 hitting clip. Only two other teams in Division II have a higher attack percentage. They are also 24th in kills per set at 13.22. Sioux Falls struggles at stopping opposing teams. Teams are hitting .217. which is 13th in the conference and they rank dead-last in digs per set in the NSIC at 13.22.

THE SERIES: The Bulldogs lead the all-time series against the Mustangs 65-17 dating back to 1976. UMD was swept in the first meeting on the road in 2017 but rebounded to clinch a four-set victory at home and, then, upset SMSU in the Central Region Tournament in Marshall. The Bulldogs have won three of the last four matchups.
The Bulldogs lead the all-time series against the Cougars 9-1. UMD took both matches last season. Sioux Falls has its only win over the Bulldogs in 2016 when they tripped up UMD in five sets at Romano on Oct. 28. The Bulldogs are 4-0 in Sioux Falls.

HOW THEY RANK: Here is how UMD and its opponent stack up with their overall records, the NSIC standings and in the AVCA poll.
TEAM        RECORD        NSIC        AVCA
UMD             15-3             T-1st           5th
SMSU           12-5               4th           10th
USF              11-6             T-5th           NR

THE BROADCAST: All NSIC matches throughout the season will be carried live through a video stream. is available for free at: 

portal.stretchinternet.com/umd

For those interested in live stats can follow the links below:

Live Stats (SMSU): smsumustangs.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
Live Stats (USF): usfcougars.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary

LAST TIME OUT: UMD swept No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul in non-conference play to run its home winning streak up to 18 matches. The Bulldogs hit .295 and limited the Golden Bears to .225. Senior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen compiled 13 kills to guide UMD. Sophomore outside hitter Kate Berg and senior right side hitter Sarah Kelly each registered 10 kills while junior outside hitter Hanna Meyer was one kill shy of notching double figures. Junior setter Emily Torve posted 38 assists and junior libero Keena Seiffert lead the Bulldogs with 10 digs. Junior middle blocker Abby Thor nailed down seven of UMD's 12 blocks. Concordia was handed early leads in all three sets only to watch them disappear. The Bears started the match hitting .300 after the first but was substantially held in check hitting .256 and .143. 

NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS: UMD nabbed its second and third weekly honors on Monday from the NSIC. Junior middle blocker Abby Thor was named the NSIC Offensive player of the Week and junior setter Emily Torve was selected a repeat winner of the NSIC Setter of the Week award.

Thor compiled 24 kills on 35 swings and paced the Bulldogs with a 4.00 kills per set while hitting an NSIC-best .600 on the weekend. She hit .857 against Augustana, the highest NSIC clip for a single match this season. In addition, she posted 1.67 blocks per set with at least five blocks in each match.

Torve supplied 87 assists over six sets and averaged 14.5 assists per set. She directed UMD to a .429 hitting percentage, its highest weekend percentage of the season. Torve also distributed the ball effectively with four attackers averaging at least 3.00 kills per set and each one hitting above .347.

SURVEY SAYS: For roughly 16-plus years, the Bulldogs have been nationally ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association. UMD is still locked in at the No. 5 spot. The Bulldogs have been in every poll since it first appeared on Sept. 10, 2002 -- a stretch of 225 consecutive weeks. No other team has a longer active streak.

PULLING RANK: UMD is 3-0 against ranked teams this season. The Bulldogs have defeated No. 25 Flagler and No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul in straight sets and upset top-ranked Northern State in five sets.

OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: During the seven-match win streak, the Bulldogs are hitting .303 and averaging 15.2 kills per set. Junior outside hitter Hanna Meyer leads UMD with 3.83 kills per set with a robust .385. Sophomore outside hitter Kate Berg has 3.62 kills per set while senior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen is averaging 3.33 kills per set.

DIG IT UP: Junior defensive specialist Keena Seiffert has 4.25 digs per set this season, up 0.97 per set from last season. She tied her career mark with a 25-dig effort against MSU Moorhead on 9/21. 

SERVE'S UP: Freshman defensive specialist Sydney Lanoue has been rock solid in serve reception committing only a single error in 183 attempts. Lanoue has successfully passed the last 151 serves going back 49 sets.

BLOCK PARTY: The Bulldogs are averaging 2.28 per set, which is also good for second in the conference and 0th in the nation.

ON LOCKDOWN: Teams are hitting .135 on the Bulldogs this season. St. Cloud State hit .270 against UMD, by far the highest mark allowed by the Bulldogs all season. The .135 mark is the 37th best in Division II and the best in the NSIC.

CHASING THE 1,000-KILL CLUB: Senior outside hitter Makenzie Morgen would be in line to become the next Bulldog to hit the 1,000-kill mark. Morgen has 1,181 kills combining her playing days with the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Currently, the Appleton, Wis., native is 87 kills away from becoming the 21st member of the Bulldog club.

MOVING UP THE 1,000-KILL CLUB CHARTS: Senior right side hitter Sarah Kelly joined a distinctive group of 19 other Bulldogs to achieve at least 1,000 kills. Kelly has 1,121 kills for her career moving her past Monica Turner for 12th amongst the program. She is 14 kills from passing April Hansen for 11th. 

LIGHT IT UP: Senior right side hitter Sarah Kelly is second in the nation among active career hitting percentages. Kelly is hitting .377 for her career which is 12 points off junior Julianne Miller from Azusa Pacific. As it stands, the Chaska, Minn., native is on pace to scatter the best UMD mark set at .361 by both Monica Turner and Sarah Wyffels.  

SET IT AND FORGET IT: Junior setter Emily Torve moved up to ninth all-time among set assists at UMD last year and currently sits with 3,438. Tammy Wermager is eighth on the UMD charts with 3,513.

THE COMPLETE SET: On a national stage, junior setter Emily Torve has the reputation of directing a few of the nation's best hitters and offenses during her stint. The Bulldogs have had the fifth and fourth best offensive hitting percentages the past two seasons. Pile those successes and Torve has the highest assists per set among active setters registering at 12.02 assists per set.

BOOS CLUES: In his 17th year at the helm of the UMD volleyball program, Jim Boos has turn the volleyball club into a perennial national contender. Boos was hired on July 24, 2002 to become the fourth coach since 1976, succeeding Pati Rolf, and has become the longest tenured volleyball coach in the Bulldogs' 47-year history.

Boos has hand-crafted numerous players that have rewritten the record books, and have retooled the expectations set forth yearly by the program. To date, 24 individuals have accumulated AVCA All-American honors since Boos arrival. Each year under his helm, the Bulldogs have had at least one representative selected to the All-American team.

The native of Delafield, Wis. has produced a 450-85 record and has taken his club into the NCAA tournament every year expect the 2015 season -- an illuminating one despite knocking off the eventual champions Wheeling Jesuit twice in the regular season.

The Bulldogs would finish 29-3 in Boos' first go-around, romping to an 18-0 mark against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference competition as Boos laid claim to the first of his eight conference championships to date. At the end of his debut season behind the Bulldog bench, Boos was recognized by his colleagues as the 2002 NSIC Coach of the Year. He'd repeat that feat in 2011 and again in 2014, when UMD went 20-0 in their tough NSIC schedule defeating 11 ranked teams on the way to a program-best winning percentage with a 33-2 overall record. 

UMD earned its inaugural trip to the NCAA II Elite Eight in 2004 before losing to eventual champions Barry University. Boos was given the prestigious accolade of 2004 AVCA Coach of the Year. Two years later, Boos and the Bulldogs would return with another deep postseason run before falling to the University of Tampa, who would be crowned national champions.

Before his time at UMD, Boos served as an assistant coach at UW-Oshkosh for five years (1992-98) and assistant at North Dakota State University (1998-2001).

UP NEXT: The Bulldogs return home to start a three-match home stint starting with St. Cloud State University on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 6:00 p.m.