THIS WEEK: The first-place North Dakota State women's volleyball team (10-3, 4-0) begins a four-match home stand this weekend after a pair of road sweeps extended NDSU's winning streak to five matches. The Bison host IUPUI (9-8, 2-2) on Friday, Oct. 10, and Western Illinois (6-11, 2-2) on Saturday, Oct. 11. Both matches begin at 7 p.m. at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse in Fargo.

Friday's match vs. IUPUI is Residence Hall Night. The NDSU residence hall with the highest percentage of residents in attendance will win a pizza party for their hall. Saturday's match vs. Western Illinois is Ticket Stub Discount Night. Show your ticket stub for the 3 p.m. NDSU football game against Western Illinois and receive a volleyball ticket at the reduced price of $3.

THE SERIES: Friday will be the fourth meeting between North Dakota State and IUPUI. The Bison lead the series 3-0 including a sweep in Fargo and a 3-1 win in Indianapolis last year. NDSU swept the teams' first match at IUPUI in October 2006. ... Saturday will be the fourth meeting between North Dakota State and Western Illinois. The Westerwinds have a 2-1 edge in the series after winning in five sets in Macomb last November. NDSU won 3-1 in Fargo last year. The teams first met in September 2005 with WIU winning 3-1 at the Wisconsin-Green Bay tournament.

ABOUT IUPUI: The Jaguars enter the week 9-8 overall and tied with Western Illinois for fifth place in The Summit League with a 2-2 record. IUPUI lost in three sets to Oral Roberts on Friday before losing in five sets to UMKC on Saturday. The Jaguars currently lead The Summit League with 21.47 digs per set and last week led the nation with 18.95 digs per set (overall). IUPUI has made 100 digs in four matches this year, including 109 against UMKC. Libero Chelsea Bastin made 31 digs and Kalyse Reimbold had 25 kills for the Jags. Bastin leads the league in digs with 5.80 dps and Reimbold is first in the league with 5.14 kills per set. Head coach Steve Payne (Northern Illinois, 1987) is in his 12th season with a 159-203 record.

ABOUT WESTERN ILLINOIS: The Westerwinds enter Friday night's match at South Dakota State with a 6-11 record and tied with IUPUI for fifth place in The Summit League with a 2-2 record. Western Illinois wrapped up a five-match home stand with a 3-1 win over UMKC and a 3-0 loss to Oral Roberts last weekend. The Westerwinds ranked third in the nation in digs last week with an overall average of 17.66 digs per set, and libero Elise Crnjak is currently the league's overall leader in digs with 4.73 dps. Head coach Kym McKay (St. Francis, 1996) is in her seventh year at Western Illinois with a 75-121 record.

LAST WEEK: North Dakota State extended its winning streak to five matches with a pair of road sweeps last week. Freshmen Jennifer Lopez and Chrissy Knuth had nine kills apiece as NDSU beat Oakland 25-23, 25-15, 25-16 on Friday. The Bison defeated IPFW 25-21, 25-17, 25-17 on Saturday. Lopez had 10 kills and 10 assists while teammate Lauren McLaughlin had eight kills and hit a career- and match-high .471. North Dakota State held Oakland to .069 hitting Friday and IPFW hit only .052 against the Bison on Saturday. NDSU has held eight of its las nine opponents under .200 and the Bison are second in The Summit League in opponent hitting percentage.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State junior Kelly Lopez was named Summit League Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Oct. 6, after averaging 7.50 digs per set in two road sweeps. Lopez had nine digs all in the first set at Oakland and tallied 21 digs at IPFW, the best three-set total in the league this season and ninth best in NDSU history. Lopez is NDSU's third Player of the Week this year. Chrissy Knuth was named Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29 after leading NDSU to a 3-1 victory over South Dakota State with a match- and career-high 18 kills. Knuth was also in on three blocks. Jennifer Lopez was Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 8 after two tournament MVP awards and back-to-back triple-doubles.

HOME SWEET HOME: North Dakota State has won four straight home matches at the 2,100-seat Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, where the Bison have a 306-56 record since 1978. NDSU went undefeated at home (8-0) for the ninth time in 2007 and the Bison have won 16 of their last 19 home matches back through the 2006 season.

SIXTH LARGEST CROWD: The crowd of 1,283 for the South Dakota State match on Saturday, Sept. 27, was the sixth largest attendance figure at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse and the seventh largest volleyball crowd in school history. (NDSU played defending national champion Washington at the Bison Sports Arena before a crowd of 1,547 in September 2005.) The South Dakota State match was the 21st draw over 1,000 in Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse history.

BISON IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS: North Dakota State was ranked 20th in digs in the NCAA Division I statistics through Sunday, Sept. 28, with an average of 16.48 digs per set through 11 matches. The Bison finished last year ranked fourth in the nation with 20.73 digs per set. NDSU also climbed to 20th last week in assists (12.98 aps) and 25th in kills (13.86 kps). Updated NCAA statistics are due out Tuesday.

LOPEZ POSTS TWO TRIPLE-DOUBLES: North Dakota State freshman Jennifer Lopez recorded triple-doubles in back-to-back wins over UTEP and Northern Colorado on Saturday, Sept. 6. Lopez had 23 assists, 14 kills and 19 digs against UTEP and she followed with 17 assists, 21 kills and 13 digs in the championship match against Northern Colorado. She was named MVP of the NDSU Doublewood Inn Classic presented by ASICS and was Summit League Offensive Player of the Week for her performance.

RULES CHANGES THIS YEAR: NCAA volleyball rules changes this year include three noticeable changes to the public. First, the term "set" has replaced "game" as it is used internationally. Second, the number of points to win a set has been reduced from 30 to 25. Teams still must win sets by two points, and the fifth set will still be played to 15. And, because sets will be shorter, the number of allowable substitutions per set has been reduced from 15 to 12.

BISON THIRD IN PRESEASON POLL: The North Dakota State women's volleyball team was picked to finish third in The Summit League this season, according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. Oral Roberts was first with 62 points and six first-place votes, and IPFW was second with 55 points and one first-place vote. NDSU had 54 points and received two first-place votes. Defending league champion South Dakota State was fifth, IUPUI was sixth, Oakland seventh, UMKC eighth and Centenary ninth to round out the preseason poll. The top four teams in the regular season advance to the Summit League postseason tournament Nov. 21-22 at Oral Roberts.

THE COACH: Erich Hinterstocker is in his third year as head coach at North Dakota State with a 47-24 record. Hinterstocker directed the Bison to a 17-13 finish in his first season. It was the third-best turnaround in the country from a 5-31 record, and NDSU's first winning year in Division I. Last year's 20-8 record was NDSU's first 20-win season as a Division I program, and the Bison tied for second place in The Summit League with a 12-4 mark. Hinterstocker came to NDSU from Alabama, where he was an assistant coach for two seasons. He also spent three seasons as an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay and one year at Alverno College in Wisconsin.