NDSU Squares Off With Northwestern, Illinois State & Northern Iowa at UNI Tournament

Friday, September 16

Cedar Falls, Iowa

1:30 p.m.

North Dakota State

Northwestern

Photo by: Wesley Winterink

NDSU Squares Off With Northwestern, Illinois State & Northern Iowa at UNI Tournament

9/14/2016 2:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

NDSU Volleyball Release (9-14-16).pdf

North Dakota State (2-8) is scheduled to open competition at the UNI Tournament with Northwestern University (5-4) at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, in the McLeod Center (6,650) at Cedar Falls ... NDSU will play Illinois State (5-5) at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 ... The Bison close out tournament play against host Northern Iowa (6-4) at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 ... All matches at the tournament will be streamed live on WatchESPN and the ESPN app.

BISON AT THE UNI TOURNAMENT
Friday, Sept. 16
1:30 p.m. Northwestern (5-4) vs. North Dakota State (2-8) Live Stats I Live Video (WatchESPN/ESPN3)

Saturday, Sept. 17
5 p.m. Illinois State (5-5) vs. North Dakota State Live Stats I Live Video (WatchESPN/ESPN3)

Sunday, Sept. 18
2:30 p.m. Northern Iowa (6-4) vs. North Dakota State Live Stats I Live Video (WatchESPN/ESPN3)

UP NEXT: North Dakota State is scheduled to open The Summit League schedule at home against Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, and IUPUI at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, in the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.

THE SERIES: This is the first meeting between North Dakota State and Northwestern University, members of the Big Ten ... This is the first meeting between North Dakota State and Illinois State, members of the Missouri Valley Conference ... This is the ninth meeting between North Dakota State and the University of Northern Iowa, members of the Missouri Valley Conference ... The Panthers lead the series 6-2 including a 3-0 win on Sept. 7, 2013 in Fargo.

BISON CUT SHOTS: North Dakota State 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 ... Miron has 951 kills entering this week's action and is looking to become the 23rd player in NDSU history to reach 1,000 kills ... 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 47 assists against Texas Tech (9-2-16) ... The win over Bradley snapped a seven-match losing streak dating back to last season ... Through the first 10 matches, Hadley Steffen tops NDSU with five 'double-doubles' ... Freshman 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 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).

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 1,187 digs to rank 12th all-time ... She has 64 matches with double-figure digs in her career, three this season ... Milligan is also fourth all-time in digs per set (3.36) ... 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 ... Milligan is also 17th in assists per set (0.57) ... Claxton is 9th in assists per set (6.75) and assists (2,249) ... Miron is 9th with 77 solo blocks ... Minnick is 18th in attack percentage (.287, 872-279-2063) and 19th in solo blocks (55) ... Rasmusson is 11th in assists per set (5.30) and assists (1,469).

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded five (5) 'double-doubles' ... Senior Hadley Steffen recorded 13 kills and 14 digs vs. Texas Tech (9-2-16) and has four in her career ... With a career-high 47 assists and 14 digs vs. Texas Tech, junior Brianna Rasmusson was credited with her first 'double-double' of the season and now has 23 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 (2/46)       2   --   --   --
Emily Minnick (3/38)       3   --   -- (2)   --
Hadley Steffen (5/10)       5   -- (1)   --   --
Jessica Jorgensen (2/9)       2   --   --   --
Alex Erickson (1/1)       1   --   --   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)       --   --   --   --
Brianna Rasmusson (0/1)       --   --   --   --

BISON DIG TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2016/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+
Emily Milligan (3/64)       3   1   -- (11)   -- (2)
Mikaela Purnell (0/34)       --   --   -- (10)   -- (2)
Brianna Rasmusson (1/23)       1   --   -- (1)   --
Monica Claxton (1/22)       1   --   --   --
Hadley Steffen (3/12)       3   --   -- (1)   --
Morgan Morgan (4/6)       4   1   --   --
Ali Moody (3/3)       3   --   --   --

BISON DOUBLE-DOUBLE TRACKER
PLAYER (2016/Career)   Kills/Digs   Assists/Digs
Brianna Rasmusson (1/23)   --   1
Monica Claxton (1/21)   --   1
Hadley Steffen (3/4)   3   --
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.

   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)

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.

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 90-88 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.