SIOUX FALLS – Opening a three-match road swing, University of Sioux Falls Volleyball heads to Marshall, Minn. to face No. 2 Southwest Minnesota State on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. The Cougars (13-7, 8-7 NSIC) are looking to rebound after dropping consecutive matches for the first time this season. With two weeks left in the regular season, USF is tied for the final spot in the eight-team NSIC Tournament.
 
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For all USF Volleyball home matches and all Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contests, watch the Cougars live on Stretch Internet at USFCougars.com/watch. Live stats will be available for all matches. Links to home match live stats are available at USFCougars.com/livestats while links to all road match live stats are available on the USF Volleyball schedule at USFCougars.com.
 
Playoff picture
Despite dropping two matches this past weekend, USF remains in the hunt for an NSIC Tournament spot. The Cougars are tied for eighth with Wayne State at 8-7 with five more matches on the conference schedule. Augustana and Upper Iowa are one match ahead of USF, each with 9-6 records in league play. At 10-5, Winona State is the final team above the Cougars that hasn't clinched a playoff berth. Remaining on USF's schedule are Southwest Minnesota State and Minnesota Duluth, who are 13-2 and 12-3, respectively. Also the Cougars will face St. Cloud State (7-8 NSIC) on Friday, then finish the season against Bemidji State (0-15) Minnesota Crookston (3-12) in their final home weekend.
 
Series Histories
                Southwest Minnesota State – SMSU leads 11-1
After pushing Southwest Minnesota State to the brink at home earlier in the season, Sioux Falls is looking for their second win over the Mustangs on Tuesday night. Entering the mid-week match, USF is 1-11 against the national stalwart Mustangs, who hold the No. 2 ranking in this week's AVCA Coaches' Poll. In each of the previous 12 matches between USF and SMSU, the Mustangs have been ranked in the national top 10 and twice have been the top-ranked team. Earlier this season, Sioux Falls shook off 25-16 first-set loss to rebound with a 25-21 set victory to even the match. The Cougars had a shot at taking a 2-1 lead but dropped the third set, 28-26, and ultimately fell in four sets after the heart-breaking third set loss. USF's lone win in the series came in Marshall, Minn. when USF erased a two-set deficit and won in five sets in 2013, spearheaded by an amazing 18 blocks from the Cougars. Southwest Minnesota State has won in three sets six times in the series, won in four sets three times and earned two five-set victories while USF's lone victory came in five sets. SMSU is 5-1 against the Cougars in games played in Marshall, Minn.
 
 
Cougars maintain spot in top 25 poll receiving votes section
The reputation USF earned from defeating top 25 teams in Augustana and Winona State has continued to earn them points in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll. USF picked up nine points in the poll, which was enough for USF to appear in the also receiving votes section of the release. With Upper Iowa jumping into the top 25, eight NSIC teams appeared in the Week 9 poll, including four in the top 10.
 
Milestone Watch: Rockeman knocking on door of USF record books, Lam continues climb
As the heavy hitter of the USF offense, junior outside hitter Makenna Rockeman has 976 kills in her career and is just 24 kills away from reaching 1,000 for her career. The Broomfield, Colo. native has 257 terminations this season and surpassed former teammate and current graduate assistant Jordan Calef for second place in the USF Division II record books. Rockeman's career mark of 3.33 kills per set is the current USF record and she is averaging 3.47 per set this season, which predicts that she should reach 1,000 sometime this week. .
 
With a little more work to do than her teammate, senior libero Janelle Lam surpassed 900 career digs this past weekend and still has a shot eclipsing 1,000 in her career. With five matches remaining, Lam has 911 career digs, putting her 89 away from becoming the second USF player to reach 1,000 digs since USF became a NCAA Division II member. Lam is second in USF's Division II record books for career digs, behind former teammate Abby Folk's 1,457 mark. A native of Apple Valley, Minn., Lam is averaging a career-best 4.44 digs per set this season. With a minimum of 15 sets left in the season, Lam would pick up 66 digs and reach 977 if her season average held true for the remainder of the season.
 
Cougars picked seventh in NSIC preseason poll
Tying for their highest preseason projections in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, USF Volleyball was picked to finish seventh in the NSIC preseason coaches' poll, which was released just before fall camp started. The Cougars collected 146 points in the poll, their highest total since joining the league in 2012.  The seventh-place billing ties their place in the 2014 preseason poll.
 
Reigning national champion Concordia-St. Paul was picked as the league favorite, collecting 10 first-place votes and 218 points. Southwest Minnesota State earned three first-place votes, placing them second overall, Minnesota Duluth received two first-place nods for third place and Augustana picked up the final first-place vote to put them in fourth.
 
Leader of the Pride: McCartney captures 100th victory at USF in seventh season
USF Volleyball head coach Joel McCartney enters his seventh season at the helm of the program. Building a competitor in the NSIC, the top Division II volleyball conference, McCartney has built a 110-102 record in his time at USF. In 20 years of coaching collegiate volleyball, he owns a 456-261 record, and a very successful six-year stint at NCAA Division I Winthrop earned him a spot in the Winthrop Hall of Fame. McCartney has taken the Cougars to the NSIC Tournament – top eight teams in the standings qualify – in three of five years as members of the conference. In 2016, he led the Cougars to an upset of No. 1 Minnesota Duluth on the road and he defeated top-25 ranked Northern State twice. He has coached players to five All-NSIC honors and three of NSIC Player of the Week awards. McCartney is assisted by his wife and associate head coach Andrea McCartney, and graduate assistant Jordan Calef.