2,000 kills for Taylor

It was “Senior Night” at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall on Friday and senior Taylor Reiss, a Minneota Viking grad, celebrated with 32 kills in a 3-1 victory over previously-ranked No. 1 Concordia of St. Paul.

The kills put her over the 2,000 kill mark for her college career. “Taylor had an awesome match last night,” reported Minneota photographer Brian Jeremiason.

As a result, Reiss earned NSIC Player of the Week honors.

She was named Co-Offensive Player of the Week for the third consecutive week, her fourth time this season, and her tenth overall.

Reiss, a native of Taunton and a 2015 graduate of Minneota High School, recorded 49 kills with 6.86 kills per set average in SMSU’s victories over No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul on Friday night and the sweep over Minnesota State on Saturday.

Reiss became the second player in school history to earn 2,000 careers, which she surpassed last weekend totaling 2,039 career kills. Reiss is ranked second in kills (2,039) in the all-time career rankings.

She is also second in kills per set (4.95), points (2,311.5), third in attack attempts (4,954), third in points per set (5.61), sixth in attack percentage (.315), and seventh in service attempts (1,527).

The Southwest Minnesota State women’s volleyball team advanced to the No. 9 spot in the latest American Volleyball Coaches’ Association (AVCA) Top-25 poll that was released on Monday.

This is the 170th consecutive poll, dating back to Sept. 5, 2006, in which the Mustangs have been featured in the Top-25 poll.

The Mustangs were previously ranked No. 12. SMSU (19-7, 14-4 NSIC) went undefeated last week after defeating the then-ranked No. 1, Concordia-St. Paul (18-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-18) and Minnesota State (25-6, 25-18, 25-13).

The Mustangs were slated at sixth in the first of three NCAA region rankings released last Wednesday. Southwest Minnesota State travels to Upper Iowa on Friday for a 6 p.m. match and Winona State on Saturday at 2 p.m. to close the regular season.