NDSU Closes Out Regular Season with South Dakota State, Denver

Thursday, November 10

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

South Dakota State

Photo by: Kim Hill

NDSU Closes Out Regular Season with South Dakota State, Denver

11/7/2016 12:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

NDSU Volleyball Release.pdf

Thursday, November 10, 7 p.m. vs. South Dakota State | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)
Sunday, November 13, 1 p.m. vs. Denver | Live Stats | Live Video (Pay Per View)

North Dakota State (10-4 SL, 12-16) closes out the regular season at home with Summit League matches against South Dakota State (4-10 SL, 5-21) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, and league-leading Denver (11-2 SL, 19-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13 ... Thursday is ROTC/Bison Rewards Double Points Night and Sunday is Senior Day ... Thursday's match will be televised by BEK Broadcasting Network 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/) ... NDSU will honor eight seniors, Monica Claxton, Hannah Jessen, Ali Moody, Emily Milligan, Emily Minnick, Emily Miron, Morgan Morgan and Hadley Steffen prior to Sunday's match ... The Bison have won five in a row and six of the last seven ... NDSU is 6-4 at home, while SDSU is 1-8 on the road and Denver stands at 6-3.

UP NEXT: North Dakota State is scheduled to play in the Summit League Tournament hosted by the University of Denver on Nov. 18-20.

THE SERIES: North Dakota State leads the series with South Dakota State 73-18 ... NDSU came back from an 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 in Brookings on Oct. 11 ... North Dakota State leads the series with Denver 6-5 ... The Pioneers outlasted NDSU 3-2 in Denver on Oct. 14.

PURNELL EARNS THIRD SUMMIT LEAGUE WEEKLY DEFENSIVE HONOR: North Dakota State's Mikaela Purnell was named Summit League Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and fourth time in her career on Nov. 7 ... Purnell, a 5-foot-9 defensive specialist from Excelsior, Minn., averaged 6.50 digs per set in three matches 31-dig at Fort Wayne (11-4-16) ... She became the 23rd NDSU player to reach 1,000 career digs at IUPUI (11-5-16) ... Purnell is averaging 5.76 digs per set overall with double-figure digs in 17 of 18 matches played including five 30-plus dig efforts.

BISON CUT SHOTS: North Dakota State head coach Kari Thompson collected career win No. 100 on the road at IUPUI (11-5-16) ... Libero Mikaela Purnell became the 23rd NDSU player to reach 1,000 digs at IUPUI (11-5-16), currently with 1,001 ... NDSU came up with 121 digs in the 3-2 win at Fort Wayne (11-4-16), the highest total in the Division I era and tied for fifth overall ... Hadley Steffen dropped the hammer for a career-high 22 kills in the 3-1 win at (10-11-16) ... Steffen has reached double-figure kills in 21 of 28 matches this season ... The Bison have played in seven 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) ... 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 1,080 kills and ranks 21st 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 1,146 kills ... Former Olympian Janet Cobbs (1985-88) is the all-time leader with 2,091.

PURNELL, MILLIGAN REACH 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 at Denver (9-29-15) ... Milligan has 1,345 digs to rank 8th all-time ... She has 72 matches with double-figure digs in her career, 11 this season ... Mikaela Purnell, a 5-9 junior from Excelsior, Minn., became the 23rd NDSU player to reach the 1,000 digs milestone at IUPUI (11-5-16) ... Purnell has 1,001 digs to rank 23rd all-time ... She has 50 matches with double-figure digs, 17 this season ... Kari Fagnan (2004-07) is NDSU's all-time leader with 2,083 digs.

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.

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 5th in digs per set (3.26), 8th in digs (1345), 17th in assists per set (0.54) and 20th in assists (222) ... Claxton is 9th in assists per set (6.69) and assists (2340) ... Miron is 7th with 88 solo blocks; 19th in kills (1146) and total blocks (307), 20th in attack .pct (.281, 1146-399-2661) and 20th in points (1346.5) ... Minnick is 11th in solo blocks (70) and 14th in attack pct. (.295, 1080-333-2535), and 22nd in kills (1080) ... Rasmusson is 10th in assists per set (6.26) and 11th in assists (2152).

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded 20 'double-doubles' this season ... Junior Brianna Rasmusson has 10 'double-doubles' this season and has 32 in her career following the career-high 56-assist, 25-dig performance at Fort Wayne (11-4-16) ... Senior Hadley Steffen has nine 'double-doubles' this season and 10 in her career ... 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 (13/56)       13   3 (12)   --   --
Emily Minnick (13/48)       13   5 (14)   -- (2)   --
Hadley Steffen (21/26)       21   5 (6)   2 (2)   --
Jessica Jorgensen (5/12)       5   --   --   --
Alex Erickson (2/2)       2   --   --   --
Erika Gelzinyte (1/1)       1   --   --   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)       --   --   --   --
Brianna Rasmusson (0/1)       --   --   --   --

BISON DIG TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2016/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+   30+
Emily Milligan (11/72)       11   3   2 (13)   -- (2)   --
Mikaela Purnell (17/50)       17   15   8 (18)   8 (10)   5 (6)
Brianna Rasmusson (10/32)   10   3   1 (2)   1 (1)   --
Monica Claxton (1/22)       1   --   --   --   --
Hadley Steffen (9/18)       9   1   -- (1)   --   --
Morgan Morgan (9/11)       9   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 (10/32)   --   10
Monica Claxton (1/21)   --   1
Hadley Steffen (9/10)   9   --
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 an 100-96 record in her sixth full season as head coach at North Dakota State ... Thompson recorded career win No. 100 at IUPUI on Nov. 5, 2016 ... 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.