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MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead volleyball team faces a pair of pivotal matches to conclude the regular season this week. MSUM hosts No. 8-ranked Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night (7 p.m. first serve) and then wraps up the regular season against the University of Sioux Falls  at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

MSUM enters the week 15-11 overall and 8-10 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Dragons are tied for eighth in the league with Minnesota State Mankato and Minnesota Crookston. The top eight teams in the league qualify for the conference tournament. Those three teams trail seventh-place Sioux Falls by just one game and lead Minot State, Winona State and St. Cloud State by just one game, meaning this weekend will decide the final spots in the NSIC tournament.

MSUM and SMSU will meet for a 101st time, with the Mustangs leading the series 54-46. SMSU swept the Dragons in September in Marshall, Minn. The Dragons lead the series against Sioux Falls 3-0, including a four-set win on the road earlier this season.

The Dragons split on the road last weekend, losing a tough five-set match at Augustana on Friday before rebounding with a crucial five-set win over No. 18-ranked Wayne State on Saturday. It was the Dragons' first win over a ranked opponent this season. Freshman Brianna Atkins had a solid weekend for MSUM with 28 kills in two matches, while sophomore libero Amber Krenske had 55 digs.

Sophomore Kaitlin VanWinkle leads MSUM with 282 kills, while junior Maggie Gruber has 240 and sophomore Morgan Gradishar has 206. Junior Annie Palmquist has 202. Junior Sam Sullivan has 593 set assists while sophomore Casie Baer has 414 for the Dragons, who are hitting .192 as a team. On defense, sophomore Amber Krenske has  356 digs while sophomore Morgan Gradishar has 314 and  freshman Katie Meyers has 270. VanWinkle has 121 blocks, an average of 1.21 per set, which leads in the NSIC.  Tammy Blake is in her 19th season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 332-250 at the school.

About SMSU
No. 8-ranked Southwest Minnesota State is 20-6 overall and 15-3 in the NSIC. The Mustangs recorded home sweeps of Mary and Minot State last weekend and have won five of their last six matches. Abbey Thissen leads SMSU with 360 kills while Claire Sames has 265. Sophomore Emilee Gutzmer has 1,048 set assists for the Mustangs, who are hitting .222 as a team.  Senior Rachel Westby has 427 digs while Sames has 81 blocks. Terry Culhane is in his ninth season as SMSU's head coach with a record of 256-69 at the school.

About Sioux Falls
The Cougars enter this week 18-10 overall and 9-9 in the NSIC. They will face Northern State prior to facing MSUM. Sioux Falls has won four in a row, including home wins over Mary and Minot State last weekend. Emily Johnson leads the Cougars with 362 kills while Kate Hart has 251. Alexa Reed has 1,020 set assists for USF, which is hitting .238 as a team. On defense, Andrea Odbert has 406 digs for the Cougars while Jordan Calef has 96 blocks.  Joel McCartney is in his third season as USF's head coach with a record of 48-52 at the school.

Last Week's MSUM Highlights
Brianna Atkins (OH, 5-10, Fr., Rochester, Minn. / John Marshall HS) had a strong week from her right-side hitter position for the Dragons. She had 28 kills in two matches, averaging 2.80 kills per set. She had a career-high 15 kills in a five-set loss at Augustana on Friday and then added a team-high 13 kills in a five-set win at No. 18 Wayne State on Saturday. Atkins had just seven errors in 71 attack attempts and hit .296 for the week.

Sam Sullivan (S, 5-11, Jr., Woodbury, Minn. / Woodbury HS) had 50 set assists in two matches as part of MSUM's two-setter attack as the Dragons went 1-1 on the road, including a win over No. 18-ranked Wayne State on Saturday. Sullivan had 30 set assists in a five-set loss at Augustana on Friday and followed with 20 in the comeback win at Wayne State.

Amber Krenske's (L/DS, 5-7, So., Faribault, Minn. / Faribault HS) had 55 digs in a pair of road matches for the Dragons as they went 1-1. The highlight of the weekend was a five-set, come-from-behind win at No. 18 Wayne State. Krenske had 25 digs in a five-set loss at Augustana on Friday night and then added 30 digs in the Dragons' five-set win over No. 18-ranked Augustana on Saturday. Krenske averaged 5.50 digs per set for the week.