NDSU Hosts Summit League Leader South Dakota at 7 p.m. Tuesday

Tuesday, November 1

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

South Dakota

Photo by: Wesley Winterink

NDSU Hosts Summit League Leader South Dakota at 7 p.m. Tuesday

10/31/2016 2:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

NDSU Volleyball Release.pdf
Tuesday, November 1, 7 p.m. vs. South Dakota | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)

North Dakota State (7-4 SL, 9-16) hosts league-leading South Dakota (10-1 SL, 21-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1 on Faculty Appreciation Night in the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse ... BEK Broadcasting Network will televise the match with Corey Brooks on the call ... BEK is available on cable systems, DirecTV and DISH in Eastern and Western North Dakota (locations can be found here www.bektel.com/bbn/) ... The Bison are 5-4 at home, while the Coyotes are 6-2 on the road.

UP NEXT: North Dakota State hits the road to play Fort Wayne at 6 p.m. Central Time Friday, Nov. 4, and IUPUI at 5 p.m. CT Saturday, Nov. 5 ... The Bison close out the regular season at home against South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, and Denver at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13.

THE SERIES: This is the 60th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota ... NDSU leads the series 48-11 ... USD won 3-0 in Vermillion on Sept. 30.

BACK AT THE BENTSON BUNKER FIELDHOUSE: North Dakota State is 5-4 within the Friendly Confines of the air-conditioned Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse this season ... NDSU has compiled a 368-81 record good for a .819 winning percentage since 1978.

TICKETS & PARKING: General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for youth ages 3-17, and reserved tickets are $10-12 ... Match day tickets are sold at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse ... Doors open one (1) hour prior to the match ... Free parking is available in Visitors Lot E.

PURNELL EARNS SECOND SUMMIT LEAGUE WEEKLY DEFENSIVE HONOR: North Dakota State's Mikaela Purnell was named Summit League Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season and third time in her career on Oct. 31 ... Purnell, a 5-foot-9 defensive specialist from Excelsior, Minn., averaged 9.33 digs per set in three matches including back-to-back 28-dig efforts vs. Western Illinois and Omaha.

BISON CUT SHOTS: Through 25 matches, Hadley Steffen and Brianna Rasmusson top North Dakota State with eight 'double-doubles' ... Steffen dropped the hammer for a career-high 22 kills in the 3-1 win at (10-11-16) ... North Dakota State played in four straight five-set matches from Oct. 7 to Oct. 16, the most in a row since 2009 when NDSU went the distance with Florida State, Northern Colorado and Miami (Fla.) ... The Bison have played in six five-set matches overall this season, the school record is nine in 1994 and 1997 ... Hannah Jessen came up with a career-high 22 digs in the 3-2 loss at Denver (10-14-16) ... NDSU middle blocker Emily Minnick was named all-tournament at the UNI Tournament on Sept. 16-18 ... Minnick tied a career-high with seven blocks (seven block assists) at South Dakota State (10-11-16) ... NDSU middle blocker Jessica Jorgensen was named to the all-tournament team at the Cyclone Invitational on Sept. 9-10 ... Jorgensen hit .300 with five digs and a pair of blocks ... NDSU middle blocker Emily Miron was named to the all-tournament team at the NDSU Classic presented by Cambria Hotel & Hampton Inn on Sept. 2-3 ... Bison setter Brianna Rasmusson had one of the top four plays of the week (Sept. 5-9) at @NCAAVolleyball #NCAAVB ... Her kill on a pass from Ali Moody in NDSU's 3-0 win vs. Bradley (9-3-16) made the play list ... Rasmusson had a career-high seven blocks in the 3-2 win at South Dakota State (10-11-16) and a career best 54 assists against Oral Roberts (9-23-16) ... The win over Bradley snapped a seven-match losing streak dating back to last season ... Alex Erickson was credited with a career-high 12 kills, hitting .379 against Texas Tech (9-2-16).

BISON AGAINST TOP 25 TEAMS: North Dakota State is 0-15 against Top 25 teams since beginning Division I play in 2004 ... The Bison faced a top 25 team in No. 25 Colorado State for the first time since the 2013 season ... NDSU lost 3-0 to the Rams in Fort Collins on Aug. 26.

BISON IN THE RPI: North Dakota State University was 234th (334 schools) in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) released by the NCAA on Oct. 31, 2016 ... The Bison were the fifth-ranked team in the Summit League behind South Dakota (92), Denver (134), IUPUI (169) and Oral Roberts (233) ... Following NDSU were Fort Wayne (239), Omaha (283), South Dakota State (296) and Western Illinois (304).

MIRON, MINNICK REACH 1,000 KILLS: North Dakota State's Emily Minnick, a 6-foot-1 senior middle blocker from Willmar, Minn., became the 24th player to reach 1,000 kills in a career during the fourth set at Omaha (10-16-16) ... Minnick has 1,035 kills and ranks 22nd all-time ... Emily Miron, a 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker from Wadena, Minn., became the 23rd player to reach 1,000 kills during the first set at Western Illinois (10-2-16) ... Miron currently is 19th all-time in kills with 1,106 kills.

RASMUSSON NAMED SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State junior setter Brianna Rasmusson was selected Summit League Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 26) ... First league honor for Rasmusson ... Recorded two 40-plus matches in leading NDSU to home wins over Oral Roberts and IUPUI ... Had a career-high 54 assists in her fourth double-double (54 assists, 18 digs) of the season in a four-set win over ORU.

MILLIGAN REACHES 1,000 DIGS: North Dakota State's Emily Milligan, a 5-foot-5 senior 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 1,300 digs to rank 9th all-time ... She has 69 matches with double-figure digs in her career, eight this season ... Milligan is also 5th all-time in digs per set (3.24) ... Kari Fagnan (2004-07) is NDSU's all-time leader with 2,083 digs.

CLIMBING THE CAREER LADDER: North Dakota State's Emily Milligan, Monica Claxton, Emily Miron, Emily Minnick and Brianna Rasmusson are climbing the NDSU career ladder ... Milligan is also 17th in assists per set (0.53) and 20th in assists (215) ... Claxton is 9th in assists per set (6.71) and assists (2328) ... Miron is 8th with 87 solo blocks; 19th in kills (1106) and total blocks (303), and 20th in points (1303) ... Minnick is 12th in solo blocks (65) and 14th in attack pct. (.293, 1035-323-2431), and 22nd in kills (1035) ... Rasmusson is 10th in assists per set (6.08) and 11th in assists (2019).

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded 17 'double-doubles' this season ... Senior Hadley Steffen has eight 'double-doubles' this season and nine in her career ... Junior Brianna Rasmusson has eight 'double-doubles' this season and has 30 in her career following the 54-assist, 18-dig performance vs. Oral Roberts (9-23-16) ... Senior Monica Claxton had 18 assists and 12 digs vs. Saint Mary's (8-28-16) for her 'daily double' and improved to 21 in her career.

BISON KILL TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2016/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+
Emily Miron (10/53)       10   3 (12)   --   --
Emily Minnick (11/46)       11   3 (12)   -- (2)   --
Hadley Steffen (18/23)       18   4 (5)   2 (2)   --
Jessica Jorgensen (5/12)       5   --   --   --
Alex Erickson (2/2)       2   --   --   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)       --   --   --   --
Brianna Rasmusson (0/1)       --   --   --   --

BISON DIG TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2016/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+   30+
Emily Milligan (8/69)       8   2   1 (12)   -- (2)   --
Mikaela Purnell (14/48)       14   12   6 (16)   6 (8)   3 (4)
Brianna Rasmusson (8/30)       8   2   -- (1)   --   --
Monica Claxton (1/22)       1   --   --   --   --
Hadley Steffen (8/17)       8   1   -- (1)   --   --
Morgan Morgan (7/9)       7   1   --   --   --
Ali Moody (3/3)       3   --   --   --   --
Hannah Jessen (1/4)       1   1   1   --   --

BISON DOUBLE-DOUBLE TRACKER
PLAYER (2016/Career)   Kills/Digs   Assists/Digs
Brianna Rasmusson (8/30)   --   8
Monica Claxton (1/21)   --   1
Hadley Steffen (8/9)   8   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)   --   --

NDSU PICKED SECOND IN SUMMIT LEAGUE: North Dakota State was picked second in The Summit League Volleyball Preseason Poll voted on by the league's head coaches ... The Bison had 52 points ... NDSU 6-foot-1 middle blocker Emily Minnick was selected as a Player to Watch this season ... Defending champion Denver was selected as the favorite to win the 2016 volleyball crown as the Pioneers collected eight of nine first-place votes and 64 total points overall ... The top six regular-season finishers will qualify for The Summit League Volleyball Championship, held in Denver, Colo., Nov. 18-20.

PURNELL EARNS SUMMIT LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK & ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS: North Dakota State outside hitter/defensive specialist Mikaela Purnell earned her first career Summit League Defensive Player of the Week honor Oct. 12, 2015 ... The 5-foot-9 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 ... Purnell also was named to the Summit League all-tournament team after coming up with a career-high 32 digs in the 3-2 loss to South Dakota (11-20-15).

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 eight NCAA Tournaments.

MAKING THE GRADE: The North Dakota State University volleyball team was honored with the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 2015-16 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 fourth consecutive year and the 16th time overall.

ANGIE CONVERSE GROVE INDUCTED INTO BISON ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME: Two-time All-American middle blocker Angie Converse Grove (1990-93) is scheduled to be inducted into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 30 ... The native of Alexandria, Minn., ranks No. 4 all-time with 1,775 kills and played on three NCAA national tournament teams including the 1990 runner-up.

COBBS NAMED TOP DIVISION II PLAYER IN NCAA VOLLEYBALL HISTORY BOOK: North Dakota State three-time All-American and 1988 NCAA Division II Player of the Year Janet Cobbs was selected as the Division II All-Time Top Player by the book, 'NCAA Volleyball History—Coaches, Players, Personalities & Teams' in the panel vote ... Cobbs, who was a rare Division II USA Olympic Player in 1992 in Barcelona, was one of the most dominant hitters of her era ... The NCAA Volleyball History book by Michael J. Sondheimer has background about every men's and women's NCAA Division I championship from 1970-2016, plus information on NCAA Division II and III championships and the start of the NCAA Women's Beach championships in 2016 ... It's available on Amazon/Kindle.

THE COACH: Kari Thompson (Green Bay, 2003) has a 97-96 record in her sixth 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.