Tuesday, October 13
Grand Forks, N.D.
7 p.m.
North Dakota State
at
North Dakota
Photo by: Richard Svaleson
NDSU Volleyball Travels to North Dakota on Oct. 13; Hosts Denver & SDSU on Oct. 18-20
10/12/2015 3:18:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
NDSU Volleyball Release.pdf
Tuesday, October 13, 7 p.m. at North Dakota TV: Midco Sports Network/FCS Central Radio: 1440-AM KXXL | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
Sunday, October 18, 1 p.m. vs. Denver | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
Tuesday, October 20, 7 p.m. vs. South Dakota State | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
NDSUVolleyball on Twitter | #NDSUBison | #SummitVB
North Dakota State University (12-8, 3-4 Summit League) closes out a three-match road swing with a non-league encounter at the University of North Dakota (15-7, 4-2 Big Sky) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center ... The match will be broadcast on Midco Sports Network and Fox College Sports Central ... It will also be available at WatchBigSky.com and can be heard on 1440-AM KKXL ... NDSU is 2-5 in road matches, but 6-0 at neutral sites ... North Dakota is 8-1 at home this season ... NDSU then returns home to the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse for a pair of Summit League matches ... The Bison host the University of Denver (18-4, 6-1 SL) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, and entertains South Dakota State University (1-20, 0-5 SL) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20.
THE SERIES: North Dakota State leads the series with North Dakota 78-14 ... The Bison won 3-1 in Fargo last season ... North Dakota State leads the series with Denver 5-4 ... The Pioneers defeated the Bison 3-0 in Denver on Sept. 29, and also won two of three matches last season including the Summit League championship match ... North Dakota State leads the series with SDSU 70-18 ... The Bison won both meetings against the Jackrabbits in 2015.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: North Dakota State University NDSU closes out October on the road, traveling to Omaha on Oct. 23, Western Illinois on Oct. 25 and South Dakota on Oct. 31.
PURNELL EARNS SUMMIT LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: North Dakota State University outside hitter/defensive specialist Mikaela Purnell earned her first career Summit League Defensive Player of the Week honor Oct. 12 ... The 5-foot-9 sophomore from Excelsior, Minn., averaged 5.86 digs her set for the week ... Posted 23 digs in 3-0 win over IPFW, her fourth 20-dig match of the season ... Tallied 18 digs vs. IUPUI for her 14th match this season with double-digit digs ... Ranks fifth in the Summit League with 260 digs on the season.
INSIDE THE BENTSON BUNKER FIELDHOUSE: North Dakota State is 4-3 within the Friendly Confines of the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse this season and 11-5 over the past two years ... NDSU has compiled a 359-77 record good for a .823 winning percentage since 1978 ... The Bison are averaging 707 fans over seven home matches including a season-high 854 vs. Towson University (9-4-15).
BISON IN THE RPI: North Dakota State University was 99th in the second RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) released by the NCAA on Oct. 12 ... The Bison were the second-ranked team in the Summit League behind Denver (82) ... Following NDSU were IUPUI (102), Oral Roberts (154), South Dakota (179), Omaha (189), IPFW (260), SDSU (270) and Western Illinois (287).
BISON IN THE NCAA STATISTICS: In the NCAA statistics released Oct. 12, North Dakota State collectively ranks 34th in kills (1,006), 36th in assists (927) and 41st in attacks (2,730) ... Individually, 5-foot-11 outside hitter Jenni Fassbender ranks 47th in attacks (761), 50th in points (306), and 52nd in kills (271).
MILLIGAN REACHES 1,000 DIGS: North Dakota State's Emily Milligan, a 5-foot-5 junior from La Grange, Ill., became the 22nd NDSU player to reach 1,000 digs in a career in set two of the match at Denver (9-29-15) ... Milligan has 1,056 digs to rank 18th all-time ... She has 59 matches with double-figure digs in her career, 13 this season ... Milligan is also third all-time in digs per set (3.62) ... Kari Fagnan (2004-07) is NDSU's all-time leader with 2,083 digs.
FASSBENDER REACHES 1,000 KILLS: North Dakota State's Jenni Fassbender, a 5-foot-11 senior from Kaukauna, Wis., became the 22nd NDSU player to reach 1,000 kills in a career midway in set two of the match against Towson (9-4-15) ... Fassbender has 1,201 kills to rank 17th all-time ... Fassbender ranks 29th among NCAA active kill leaders ... Former Olympian Janet Cobbs (1985-88) is NDSU's all-time kill leader with 2,091.
CLIMBING THE CAREER LADDER: North Dakota State's Jenni Fassbender, Emily Milligan, Monica Claxton, Emily Miron, Emily Minnick and Brianna Rasmusson are climbing the NDSU career statistical ladder ... In addition to 1,000-plus kills, Fassbender is also 9th in kills per set (3.06 avg), 10th in attack attempts (3,684), 15th in points per set (3.51 avg), 18th in solo blocks (57) and 19th in points (1,374.5) ... Fassbender has 61 matches with double-figure kills in her career, 17 this season ... Additionally, Claxton is 9th in assists per set (7.16) and 10th in assists (2,013) ... Miron is 10th with 68 solo blocks and 20th in blocks per set (0.76 avg) ... Minnick is 14th in attack percentage (.297, 693-218-1600) ... Rasmusson is 13th in assists (943).
BISON PRE-LEAGUE ALL-TOURNEY SELECTIONS: North Dakota State's Jenni Fassbender, Brianna Rasmusson, Emily Minnick, Mikaela Purnell and Emily Milligan have all earned all-tournament honors during the first four weeks of play ... Minnick and Milligan were named to the San Francisco Challenge all-tournament team on Sept. 18-19 ... Minnick averaged 2.25 kills per set, hit .286 and averaged 1.00 blocks per set in three matches ... Milligan averaged 3.75 digs per set, had two service aces and added a pair of assists ... Fassbender was selected to Minnesota's Diet Coke Classic all-tournament team on Sept. 11-12 ... Fassbender averaged 3.00 kills and hit .245 in three matches ... She averaged 1.83 digs per set, and added five blocks, two assists and one ace ... Purnell came up with a career-high 24 digs in the 3-1 win over UCF (9-11-15) ... She averaged 3.67 digs per set, hit .175 and added four assists and a pair of aces ... Fassbender averaged 3.75 kills and hit .208 in three matches at NDSU's Baymont Inn & Suites Classic on Sept. 4-5 ... Fassbender averaged 2.75 digs per set, and added six blocks and three service aces ... Minnick hit .321 with 28 points, 25 kills and five blocks to join Fassbender on the all-Classic team ... During the first weekend, Fassbender and Rasmusson led the Bison at Missouri's Tiger Invitational on Aug. 28-29 ... Fassbender averaged 3.64 kills, hit .221 and added 17 digs and four blocks ... Rasmusson hit .280 with three service aces, and averaged 7.64 assists and 1.71 digs per set in three matches ... Rasmusson had 42 assists in the 3-2 loss at Missouri.
NDSU PICKED THIRD IN SUMMIT LEAGUE: North Dakota State was picked third in The Summit League Volleyball Preseason Poll voted on by the league's head coaches ... Defending champion Denver was selected as the favorite to win the 2015 volleyball crown as the Pioneers collected seven first-place votes and 63 total points in the poll ... The top six regular-season finishers will qualify for The Summit League Volleyball Championship, held in Denver, Colo., Nov. 20-22.
2015 Summit League Volleyball Preseason Poll
Rk Team Pts (1st) 2014 Record
1. Denver 63 (7) 27-7 (13-3)
2. IUPUI 57 (2) 20-13 (13-3)
3. North Dakota State 47 15-17 (8-8)
4. Oral Roberts 42 15-15 (9-7)
5. South Dakota 36 19-12 (12-4)
6. Omaha 28 14-19 (6-10)
6. IPFW 28 13-20 (7-9)
8. South Dakota State 12 6-27 (0-16)
9. Western Illinois 11 6-23 (4-12)
SUMMER IN NICARAGUA: The North Dakota State University volleyball team went on a foreign tour to Nicaragua from June 3-13, experiencing a blend of competition, community service and recreational activities on the trip ... The Bison played four matches against a combination of the Nicaraguan national team and junior national team in three different cities – Managua, Granada and San Juan del Sur ... Student-athletes also volunteered their time with a variety of community service options that included youth volleyball clinics, a mobile library and teaching English to Nicaraguan youth ... When not on the court or volunteering their time, the Bison women also had numerous opportunities to sightsee and experience various aspects of the Nicaraguan culture ... "This was such a great opportunity for our program, and I want to thank NDSU and everyone that made this possible," said NDSU head coach Kari Thompson ... "Our student-athletes had a once-in-a-lifetime experience playing against some great competition, experiencing the Nicaraguan culture and doing some community outreach." ... "Returning 14 players from last year, this also provided us with some great team building time and perfect start to the summer and off-season for us," added Thompson ... NCAA volleyball teams are permitted to take a foreign tour no more than every four years. Teams are allowed 10 extra practices to prepare at home before departure.
MAKING THE GRADE: The North Dakota State University volleyball team was honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2014-15 season ... The award, which was initiated in the 1992-93 academic year, honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average on a 4.0 scale ... The Bison received the award for the third consecutive year and for the 15th time overall.
THE COACH: Kari Thompson (Green Bay, 2003) has a 81-76 record in her fifth full season as head coach at North Dakota State ... After joining the Bison as an assistant coach in 2006, she was named interim head coach October 2010 and became the 11th head coach in program history in January 2011 ... She guided the Bison to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2010 and 2011 ... Thompson 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 in 2006.
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/ Women's VolleyballSunday, November 16
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