THIS WEEK: The second-place North Dakota State women's volleyball team (16-8, 9-2) begins a four-match homestand this weekend against third-place IPFW (15-6, 8-2) at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, and fifth-place Oakland (11-9, 5-5) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse (1,206) in Fargo.
TICKETS & PARKING: Tickets for NDSU home volleyball matches are available in advance at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office, online at GoBison.com/tickets, or by telephone toll free at (888) 231-NDSU. General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth ages 3-17, and reserved tickets are $10. Game day tickets are sold at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. Doors open 1 hour prior to the match. Free parking after 4:30 p.m. is available in the CF and SF lots adjacent to the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, Vistors Lot E, and the RF lot south of the Bison Sports Arena.
ON THE WEB: Live stats will be available on GoBison.com and live video will be available to NDSU All Access subscribers with prices of $9.95 for a monthly subscription, $29.95 for four months, and $79.95 annually.
THE SERIES: Friday will be the 23rd meeting between North Dakota State and IPFW dating back to 1987. The series is tied 11-11 after IPFW won in four sets last month in Fort Wayne. The Mastodons have won four of the last five meetings. Saturday will be the 11th meeting between North Dakota State and Oakland dating back to 1989. NDSU has a 9-1 lead in the series including a three-set win in Rochester last month. OU's only win came last year in Rochester, 3-2.
ABOUT IPFW: The Mastodons enter the week 15-6 overall and third in The Summit League with an 8-2 record. IPFW has won six straight including a 3-0 win at Oakland last Saturday. Emily Spencer leads the attack with 4.01 kills per set and is third in the league with 3.53 kps in league play, setter Megan Steenhuysen averages 10.91 assists and is second in the league (10.48 aps), and libero Tessa McGill ranked 17th nationally in digs with 5.39 dps overall through Sunday. IPFW is the top blocking team in The Summit League this year with 2.58 bps in league play. Head coach Kelley Hartley Hutton (Toledo, 1991) has a 265-138 record in her 13th season at IPFW and a 402-205 career mark in her 18th season overall.
ABOUT OAKLAND: The Golden Grizzlies entered Friday's match at South Dakota State 11-9 overall and fifth in The Summit League with a 5-5 record. Oakland lost 3-0 at home to IPFW last Saturday before sweeping Bowling Green in non-conference play Tuesday night. Megan Bray leads the Grizzlies with 3.54 kills per set and is fourth in The Summit League with 3.42 kps in league play, Brittany Holbrook leads the team and is ranked third in the league stats with a .304 hitting percentage, and Alli Kirk ranked 30th nationally with 5.18 digs per set overall through Sunday. Oakland leads The Summit League in defense with 20.57 digs per set in league play and was 19th nationally with 17.57 dps through Sunday. Head coach Rob Beam (Clarke College, 1996) has a 61-74 record in his fifth season at Oakland.
NO. 11 UNI RALLIES PAST NDSU: Michelle Burow hit .500 with a career-high 24 kills to lead No. 11-ranked Northern Iowa to a wild 25-13, 19-25, 25-21, 23-25, 20-18 victory over North Dakota State on Monday in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI (20-1) trailed 8-4 in the fifth set before rallying to avoid the upset. NDSU led 12-10 before UNI rattled off four straight kills to go ahead for the first time. The Bison trailed 14-12 but extended the match with kills by Megan Lambertson and Jennifer Lopez. NDSU had two match point opportunities spoiled by a service error and a UNI kill. NDSU survived four match points altogether, the last one erased by Janna Deyle's blast from the middle that tied it 18-18. UNI won it with a Bre Payton kill and a block by Megan Lehman and Krista DeGeest. Brynn Joki had a team-high 14 kills and a career-high 24 digs for North Dakota State and Chrissy Knuth finished with 13 kills and 14 digs. Deyle had 12 kills, seven digs and five blocks, and Lambertson finished with 12 kills. NDSU libero Andrea Henning made a match- and career-high 27 digs and Lopez had 46 assists and 13 digs for the Bison.
LAMBERTSON SUMMIT OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK: North Dakota State middle hitter Megan Lambertson was named Summit League women's volleyball Offensive Player of the Week on Monday by the league office. Lambertson hit .407 with 14 kills in the four-set win at IUPUI on Friday and hit .619 with 13 kills and no errors in a 3-0 win at Western Illinois. For the weekend, Lambertson hit .500 and averaged 3.86 kills per set. It was Lambertson's second career award and first of the season.
BISON 55th IN FIRST NCAA RPI: North Dakota State was the top rated Summit League team in the first NCAA Rating Percentage Index released Monday, Oct. 17. NDSU checked in at No. 55 ahead of Oral Roberts (70), IPFW (77) and IUPUI (99). Other Bison opponents in the Top 100 included Iowa State (3), Northern Iowa (5), Tulsa (21), Missouri (36), North Dakota (68) and UC Davis (69). NDSU has a 3-8 record against these Top 100 teams.
SUMMIT LEAGUE STATS: North Dakota State ranked first in The Summit League in hitting percentage (.242), opponent hitting percentage (.134), assists (12.82 aps), kills (13.73 kps) and service aces (1.42 saps) in the league-only stats through Sunday, Oct. 16. NDSU was second in blocks (2.30 bps) and fifth in digs (18.05 dps). Individually, Megan Lambertson was first (.416) and Janna Deyle second (.379) in hitting, and Jennifer Lopez was first in assists (10.80 aps). Lauren Cammack was third in service aces (0.42 saps) and Lopez was eighth (0.28 saps), Lambertson was seventh in kills (2.94 kps), Cammack was ninth (2.82 kps) and Brynn Joki was 10th (2.80 kps), and Andrea Henning was ninth in digs (4.75 dps).
LAMBERTSON 7th NATIONALLY IN HITTING: North Dakota State ranked 38th in service aces (1.53 saps), 41st in hitting percentage (.246) and 47th in assists (12.73 aps) in the NCAA Division I national statistics through Sunday, Oct. 16. Individually, Megan Lambertson ranked seventh in the nation in hitting with a .403 mark. She has 50 kills and only four errors over her last four matches and leads the team with a .451 hitting percentage and 2.94 kills per set over that span.
WHALEN STEPS IN FOR CAMMACK: North Dakota State middle hitter Carissa Whalen moved to outside hitter last weekend in place of Lauren Cammack, who did not play at IUPUI or Western Illinois. Whalen came off the bench in both matches, hit .333 for the weekend, and set career highs on both nights with 10 kills at Western Illinois and 12 kills at IUPUI.
LAMBERTSON MISSES FOUR MATCHES: All-Summit League middle hitter Megan Lambertson missed four matches in September after suffering an ankle injury during the first play at North Dakota. Lambertson returned in the second set against IUPUI, got five kills before intermission, and had five of her season-high 16 kills in the fifth set to spark the Bison to victory.
KNUTH 14th PLAYER TO 1,000-500 MILESTONE: North Dakota State senior middle hitter Chrissy Knuth is the 14th player in program history to surpass both 1,000 career kills and 500 career digs. Knuth got her 1,000th kill on the opening day of the season with seven against Tulane and eight against Binghamton. She enters the weekend ranked 16th in school history with 1,182 kills and needs six to pass Chrystal Olson (1994-97) for 15th place. Knuth got her 500th dig at IUPUI on Oct. 14.
LOPEZ PLAYER OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State setter Jennifer Lopez was named Summit League Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 29 after averaging 10.17 assists per set in NDSU's 3-1 weekend at the Missouri Tiger Invitational. The Bison outhit opponents .341 to .181 on the weekend including .471 in the opener vs. Tulane and .439 against Idaho State. Lopez added 13 kills with no errors in 17 attacks for a .765 hitting percentage. It was her third career award.
BISON PICKED TO WIN FOURTH TITLE: North Dakota State was picked to win The Summit League for the fourth straight season in a preseason poll of the league's 10 head coaches. The Bison tallied six first-place votes and 78 points, South Dakota State finished second with two first-place votes and 70 points, while defending co-champion IPFW placed third with 64 points and one first-place vote. Southern Utah tallied 54 points in fourth place and Oakland collected 53 points and the final first-place vote in fifth place. Rounding out the poll were Oral Roberts, IUPUI, UMKC, South Dakota and Western Illinois.
LAST YEAR: North Dakota State went 20-11 overall and won a share of its third straight Summit League title with a 14-4 record last year. NDSU beat co-champion IPFW in five sets in league championship to advance to its second NCAA tournament in three years. The Bison were 11-9 overall and third in the league with an 8-3 record when Kari Thompson took over as interim head coach and guided the Bison to a 9-2 finish. NDSU finished 87th in the final NCAA RPI. Four starters and seven total letterwinners are back from last year's team, including All-Summit League first team middle hitters Chrissy Knuth and Megan Lambertson, and second team outside hitter Brynn Joki.
THE COACH: Kari Thompson (Green Bay, 2003) has a 25-10 record in her first full season as head coach at North Dakota State. Thompson was NDSU's top assistant her first 4 1/2 seasons before taking over as interim head coach Oct. 19 last year. She was a 2010 recipient of the American Volleyball Coaches Association's "Thirty Under 30" award recognizing the top young coaches in the country. She was a three-year letterwinner at Green Bay, stayed one year as a volunteer assistant with the Phoenix, and spent two years as a graduate assistant for volleyball operations at Alabama before coming to NDSU.
