NDSU Volleyball Release.pdf

THE SCHEDULE:
Friday, Aug. 26 BISON at #25 Colorado State, 7 p.m. CT
Saturday, Aug. 27 BISON at Northern Colorado, 8 p.m. CT
Sunday, Aug. 28 BISON vs. Saint Mary's (Calif.), 2 p.m. CT
Monday, Aug. 29 BISON at Wyoming, 7 p.m. CT

UP NEXT: The NDSU Classic presented by Cambria Hotel & Hampton Inn on Sept. 2-3 in the air-conditioned Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse ... The Bison open against Texas Tech at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2 ... NDSU also plays Northern Illinois at 12:30 p.m. and Bradley at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3.

THIS WEEK: North Dakota State (19-12, 10-6 Summit League) embarks on a four-match road swing to open the 2016 season at the Colorado State/Northern Colorado tournament Aug. 26-28 in Fort Collins and Greeley, Colo. ... The Bison are scheduled to play No. 25-ranked Colorado State at 7 p.m. Central Time Friday, August 26, in Moby Arena (8,745) at Fort Collins, Colo. ... The match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network ... The Rams went 26-4 last season, won the Mountain West Conference and advanced to the NCAA tournament ... North Dakota State is scheduled to face Northern Colorado at 8 p.m. CT Saturday, Aug. 27, in Bank of Colorado Arena (2.977) at Greeley, Colo. ... The match will be streamed on WatchBigSky.com ... The Bears went 14-16 overall last season including 10-6 in the Big Sky ... North Dakota State is scheduled to play Saint Mary's (Calif.) at 2 p.m. CT Sunday, Aug. 28, in Moby Arena (8,745) at Fort Collins, Colo. ... The Gaels went 6-22 last season including 1-17 in the West Coast Conference ... North Dakota State completes the Wild West road trip at Wyoming at 7 p.m. CT Monday, Aug. 29, in the UniWyo Sports Complex (1,200) ... The match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network ... The Cowgirls went 23-7 overall last season including 13-5 in the Mountain West Conference.

THE SERIES: North Dakota State trails in the series with Colorado State 1-0 ... The Bison lost the only meeting with the Rams at the Northern Colorado Invitational on Sept. 29, 1983 ... North Dakota State leads the series with Northern Colorado 24-22 ... The Bison and Bears were members of the North Central Conference ... This will be the first meeting between North Dakota State and Saint Mary's (Calif.) ... North Dakota State trails in the series with Wyoming 1-0 ... The Bison lost the only meeting with the Cowgirls in Laramie on Sept. 27, 2004.

BISON AGAINST TOP 25 TEAMS: North Dakota State is 0-14 against Top 25 teams since beginning Division I play in 2004 ... The Bison face a top 25 team, No. 25 Colorado State, for the first time since the 2013 season when NDSU lost 3-0 to then No. 24 Wichita State and 3-0 to No. 17 Louisville.

BISON IN THE RPI: North Dakota State University was 124th (334 schools) in the final RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) released by the NCAA on Dec. 21, 2015 ... The Bison were the third-ranked team in the Summit League behind Denver (85) and IUPUI (113) ... Following NDSU were Omaha (162), Oral Roberts (181), South Dakota (187), South Dakota State (276), Fort Wayne (281) and Western Illinois (313).

BISON IN THE NCAA STATISTICS: In the final NCAA statistics released last season, North Dakota State collectively ranked 84th in digs (1,847), 88th in hitting percentage (.231) and 99th in winning percentage (.613).

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 1,113 digs to rank 17th all-time ... She has 61 matches with double-figure digs in her career, 15 this season ... Milligan is also fourth all-time in digs per set (3.42) ... 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 statistical ladder ... Claxton is 9th in assists per set (6.95) and 10th in assists (2,211) ... Miron is 10th with 75 solo blocks ... Minnick is 14th in attack percentage (.302, 794-242-1828) and 19th in solo blocks (53) ... Rasmusson is 12th in assists (1,187).

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded 29 'double-double' last season ... Junior Brianna Rasmusson led the way with 13 highlighted by 44 assist, 14 dig performance vs. Omaha (10-3-15) ... Senior Monica Claxton followed with nine including the 40 assist and 10 dig effort vs. South Dakota at the 2015 Summit League tournament ... Senior Hadley Steffen and junior Mikaela Purnell each have notched one in their careers.

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).

BISON KILL TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2015/Career)        10+    15+    20+    25+    
Emily Minnick (13/35)        13    3    -- (2)    --
Emily Miron (13/44)        13    1    --    --
Jessica Jorgensen (7/7)        7    --    --    --
Hadley Steffen (2/5)        2    --    --    --
Mikaela Purnell (1/1)        1    --    --    --
Brianna Rasmusson (0/1)        --    --    --    --

BISON DIG TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2015/Career)    10+    15+    20+    25+    
Mikaela Purnell (25/34)        25    13    10    2
Emily Milligan (15/61)        15    6    1 (11)    -- (2)
Brianna Rasmusson (13/22)        13    2    1    --
Monica Claxton (10/21)        10    --    --    --
Morgan Samec (2/2)        2    --    --    --
Hadley Steffen (0/9)        --    --    (1)    --

BISON DOUBLE-DOUBLE TRACKER
PLAYER (2015/Career)    Kills/Digs    Assists/Digs
Brianna Rasmusson (13/22)    --    13
Monica Claxton (9/20)    --    9
Mikaela Purnell (1/1)    1    --
Hadley Steffen (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.

    2016 Summit League Coaches Preseason Poll
    Rk Team    Pts (1st)    2015 Record
    1. Denver    64 (8)    27-8 (13-3)
    2. North Dakota State    52    19-12 (10-6)
    3. IUPUI    48 (1)    21-10 (12-4)
    4. Oral Roberts    44    14-16 (8-8)
    5. South Dakota    39    15-16 (8-8)
    6. Omaha    27    19-13 (12-4)
    7. Fort Wayne    24    7-25 (4-12)
    8. South Dakota State    17    5-27 (4-12)
    9. Western Illinois    9    3-28 (1-15)

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.

THE COACH: Kari Thompson (Green Bay, 2003) has a 88-80 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.