THIS WEEK: Minot State is back at the Dome for a pair of Northern Sun games, taking on nationally ranked Southwest Minnesota State Friday and the University of Sioux Falls Saturday.

RECORDS: Minot State (3-18, 0-14) went 0-3 last week in games against Mary, No. 21 Augustana and No. 6 Wayne State. Southwest Minnesota State (19-3, 12-2) won three games last week against Sioux Falls, MSU Moorhead and Northern State. Sioux Falls (11-12, 3-11) went 1-2 last week with a win against MSU Moorhead and losses against Southwest Minnesota State and Northern State.   

COACHES CORNER: Minot State head coach Ben Kaszeta is in his first season at the front of the Beaver volleyball program. Kaszeta worked previously as an assistant for Terry Gamble at Jacksonville State in 2014 and McNeese State in 2013. Prior to his work under Gamble, Kaszeta was the head coach at NCAA Division II Lake Superior State from 2010-2012. He has been coaching since 2007 when he started his coaching career at Mott Community College. Terry Culhane is in his 12th season as the head coach at Southwest Minnesota State. The SMSU graduate has posted a 286-81 record in his first 11 seasons with the Mustangs. Leading his team to the national championship last season, Culhane has led his team to 11 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Prior to joining the Mustangs he was the head coach at Marshall High School where he guided his team to three state tournaments and was named Class AAA Coach of the Year in 2002. Joel McCartney is in his fourth season as the head coach of Sioux Falls. With a 48-55 record in his first three years at USF he has improved the play of the Cougars doubling their conference wins from his first season to his second. Before joining Sioux Falls, McCartney was the head coach at the University of Georgia for four seasons gathering a 62-55 record with the Bulldogs.

RANKINGS: Southwest Minnesota State is the No. 4 team in the October 26 American Volleyball Coaches' Association Poll. Minot State and Sioux Falls did not received any votes.

SERIES HISTORY: Minot State has yet to win a game against Southwest Minnesota State. The Beavers are 0-4 in their series against the Mustangs dating back to 2012. Sioux Falls is 9-9 against Minot State in a series dating back to 1989.

LAST TIME OUT: Last season the Beavers were swept by the ninth ranked Mustangs, but were only outhit 45 kills to 41. Where Southwest Minnesota State beat Minot State heavily was in errors. Giving up 18 points in errors, MSU gave its opponent a leg up in the final two sets in which they lost by two points each. Minot State was able to defeat Sioux Falls last season in five sets on the road. Despite once again having more errors than the other team the Beavers made up for it by hitting 69 kills with an attack percentage of .209.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Minot State is playing two of its final four home games this weekend as it looks for the first conference wins of the season. Mallory Sall (OH, Sr., Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) led the Beavers last week with 41 kills. Sall finished with double-digit kills in three-straight games after going seven matches without reaching 10. She has only finished with an attack percentage above .200 twice at home this season, twice she has ended a match with as many errors as kills.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Southwest Minnesota State is bringing a 10-game winning streak into Minot this season. The Mustangs haven't suffered a loss since September 25 when they lost in four sets to Concordia, St. Paul. SMSU ranks fourth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in attack percentage (.259) and second in opponent hitting percentage (.165). Compare those numbers to Minot State's opponent percentage (.252) and attack percentage (.159) and the numbers are very similar.  

NOTING THE COUGARS: Sioux Falls has won three of its last five games for all three conference wins accumulated this season. With victories over MSU Moorhead, Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston the Cougars have been able to find a hot streak late in the season. One area USF succeeds in is blocking other teams' attacks. Ranking third in the NSIC the Cougars average 2.34 blocks per set they play.

KILLING IT: Junior Taylor Butters (OH, Spokane Valley, Wash.) finished with an attack percentage over .100 two games in a row for the first time since conference play began. With a season average of .104 Butters has 148 kills compared to 98 errors on 481 attempts. With 17 kills and seven errors in her last two games she has been able to go back-to-back games with a solid performance coming into this weekend. With 10 kills at Augustana, Butters finished with her second best conference mark on the year.

MOVING ON UP: With 9.5 assists per set in the last two weeks, freshman setter Kelsey Dewulf (Huntley, Ill.) has moved up a spot in the NSIC rankings. With 9.19 kills per set over the course of the season Dewulf now ranks ninth in the conference in that category. If she keeps up her current pace it would land the true freshman in the top 10 in Minot State history for the most assists per set. The current 10 spot is held by Marcy Heaman who averaged 9.10 in 2005.

NEW ROTATION: In the first game of last week Minot State came out in a new rotation that included starting Haley Richards (DS, RFr., Humbolt, Saskatchewan) for just the third time this season. Subbing in with Richards was Brileigh Boyce (OH, RFr., Houston, Texas) while Rachel Fagerburg (OH, So., Tempe, Ariz.) played more of a defensive role subbing in for Taylor Butters (OH, Jr., Spokane Valley, Wash.). Fagerburg, playing defense, finished with no kills for the first time this season against Mary and did it once again against Augustana. Boyce has been receiving more playing time as she has appeared in 13 of her 25 sets in the past four games.

BY THE NUMBERS

2: Sets won by the Beavers last week. The first set win over Mary broke a 21-set losing streak for Minot State.

7: Sets played by freshman outside hitter Alison Fuata (Hilo, Hawaii) in the last three matches. Before that she had only appeared in 11 sets in conference play.

73: Aces served by Minot State in 75 sets. Tarah Dabovich (MH, Sr., Phoenix Ariz.) leads the team with 22.