Friday, November 6
Fargo, N.D.
7 p.m.
North Dakota State
vs
Fort Wayne
Photo by: Richard Svaleson
NDSU Closes Home Portion of Schedule With Fort Wayne & IUPUI on Nov. 6-8
11/3/2015 9:30:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
NDSU Volleyball Release.pdf
Friday, November 6, 7 p.m. vs. Fort Wayne | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
Sunday, November 8, 1 p.m. vs. IUPUI | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
NDSUVolleyball on Twitter | #NDSUBison | #SummitVB
North Dakota State (15-11, 6-6 Summit League) is scheduled to host Fort Wayne (6-21, 3-8 SL) at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse ... North Dakota State is scheduled to host league-leading IUPUI (19-7, 10-2 SL) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8 ... Sunday's match is the final home appearance for NDSU senior outside hitter Jenni Fassbender (Kaukauna, Wis.), who has played in 113 matches and 413 sets in her career ... NDSU is 6-3 at home this season ... Fort Wayne is 2-9 in away matches this season and 2-5 at neutral sites ... IUPUI is 5-5 in away matches this season and 5-1 at netural sites.
THE SERIES: North Dakota State trails in the series with Fort Wayne 16-15 ... The Bison defeated the Mastodons 3-0 on Oct. 9 in Fort Wayne ... North Dakota State leads the series with IUPUI 12-7 ... The Jaguars won 3-1 on Oct. 11 in Indianapolis and have won seven in a row.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: North Dakota State closes out the regular season on the road at South Dakota State at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, and at Oral Roberts at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15.
INSIDE THE BENTSON BUNKER FIELDHOUSE: North Dakota State is 6-3 within the Friendly Confines of the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse this season and 13-5 over the past two years ... NDSU has compiled a 361-77 record, good for a .824 winning percentage since 1978 ... The Bison are averaging 705 fans over nine home matches including a season-high 854 vs. Towson University (9-4-15).
BISON IN THE RPI: North Dakota State University was 126th in the fifth RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) released by the NCAA on Nov. 2 ... The Bison were the third-ranked team in the Summit League behind Denver (107) and IUPUI (113) ... Following NDSU were, Oral Roberts (170), Omaha (185), South Dakota (191), SDSU (267), Fort Wayne (275) and Western Illinois (304).
BISON IN THE NCAA STATISTICS: In the NCAA statistics released Nov. 2, North Dakota State collectively ranks 47th in attacks (3,527), 50th in digs (1,535), 54th in kills (1,278) and 64th in assists (1,180) ... Individually, 5-foot-11 outside hitter Jenni Fassbender ranks 59th in attacks (984), 76th in kills (338) and 85th in points (376.5).
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 1,268 kills to rank 16th all-time ... Fassbender ranks 31st among NCAA active kill leaders ... Former Olympian Janet Cobbs (1985-88) is NDSU's all-time kill leader with 2,091.
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 1,100 digs to rank 17th all-time ... She has 61 matches with double-figure digs in her career, 15 this season ... Milligan is also third all-time in digs per set (3.51) ... Kari Fagnan (2004-07) is NDSU's all-time leader with 2,083 digs.
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 8th attack attempts (3,907), 9th in kills per set (3.07 avg), 15th in points per set (3.50 avg), 17th in solo blocks (58) and points (1,445) ... Fassbender has 66 matches with double-figure kills in her career, 22 this season ... Additionally, Claxton is 9th in assists per set (7.02) and 10th in assists (2,098) ... Miron is 10th with 71 solo blocks ... Minnick is 14th in attack percentage (.296, 746-234-1731) and 19th in solo blocks (52) ... Rasmusson is 12th in assists (1,075).
DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded 23 'double-doubles' this season ... Sophomore Brianna Rasmusson leads the way with nine highlighted by 44 assist, 14 dig performance vs. Omaha (10-3-15) ... Senior Jenni Fassbender is next at seven, while junior Monica Claxton has six, and sophomore Mikaela Purnell has notched one.
PURNELL EARNS SUMMIT LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: North Dakota State outside hitter 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 per set for the week ... Posted 23 digs in win over IPFW and tallied 18 digs vs. IUPUI.
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 ... 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 ... 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)
PROUD HISTORY: North Dakota State won four straight Summit League regular-season titles from 2008-11 ... NDSU won outright titles with a 16-0 record in 2008 and an 18-0 mark in 2009 ... The Bison have appeared in three of the last seven NCAA Tournaments.
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 84-79 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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