NDSU Volleyball Relase.pdf

Friday, October 9, 6 p.m. CT at Fort Wayne Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View) | Live Audio
Saturday, October 10, 4 p.m. CT at IUPUI Live Stats
Tuesday, October 13, 7 p.m. at North Dakota TV: Midco Sports Network/FCS Central | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
NDSUVolleyball on Twitter | #NDSUBison | #SummitVB

THIS WEEK: North Dakota State University (11-7, 2-3 Summit League) hits the road for three matches over the next seven days ... NDSU plays at Fort Wayne (4-15, 1-3 SL) at 6 p.m. CT on Friday, Oct. 9, in the Gates Sports Center ... The Bison face IUPUI (12-6, 3-1 SL) at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, Oct. 10, in Indianapolis ... North Dakota State then travels for a non-league match-up with the University of North Dakota (14-6, 3-1 Big Sky) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Grand Forks ... NDSU is 1-4 in road matches, but 6-0 at neutral sites ... Fort Wayne is 1-4 at home this season ... IUPUI is 5-1 in home matches this season ... North Dakota is 7-0 at home this season entering this week.

THE SERIES: North Dakota State trails in the series with Fort Wayne 16-14 ... The  teams split two matches last season, each winning on their home court ... North Dakota State leads the series with IUPUI 12-6 ... The Jaguars swept the two-game season series last year and have won the last six in a row ... North Dakota State leads the series with North Dakota 78-14 ... The Bison won 3-1 in Fargo last season.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: North Dakota State University returns home to the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse for a pair of Summit League encounters ... The Bison host Denver University (16-4, 4-1 SL) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, and entertains South Dakota State University (1-18, 0-3 SL) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 ... NDSU closes out October on the road, traveling to Omaha on Oct. 23, Western Illinois on Oct. 25 and South Dakota on Oct. 31.
   
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 82nd in the first RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) released by the NCAA on Oct. 5 ... The Bison are the top-ranked team in the Summit League and followed by Denver (83), IUPUI (99), Oral Roberts (125), South Dakota (197), Omaha (200), South Dakota State (252), Fort Wayne (259), and Western Illinois (288).

BISON IN THE NCAA STATISTICS: In the NCAA statistics released Oct 5, North Dakota State collectively ranks 26th in kills (917), 31st in assists (841) and 36th in attacks (2,488) ... Individually, 5-foot-11 outside hitter Jenni Fassbender ranks 31st in attacks (709), 41st in kills (251) and 42nd in points (284).

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 1,040 digs to rank 20th 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 (3.65) ... 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 1,181 kills to rank 18th 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 (3.07 avg), 10th in attack attempts (3,632), 15th in points per set (3.51 avg), 18th in solo blocks (56) and 19th in points (1,352.5) ... Fassbender has 60 matches with double-figure kills in her career, 16 this season ... Additionally, Claxton is 9th in assists per set (7.20) and 10th in assists (1,973) ... Miron is 11th with 66 solo blocks and 20th in blocks per set (0.77 avg) ... Minnick is 14th in attack percentage (.298, 681-215-1564) ... Rasmusson is 13th in assists (904).

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 a career-high 42 assists in the 3-2 loss at Missouri (8-28-15).

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 80-75 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 ...