NDSU Hosts Denver, Oral Roberts in Summit League Home Opener

Friday, September 29

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Denver

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

NDSU Hosts Denver, Oral Roberts in Summit League Home Opener

9/26/2017 12:10:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

NDSU Volleyball Release.pdf (9-26-17)

North Dakota State (11-3, 2-0 SL) is scheduled to host preseason favorite Denver (10-3, 1-0 SL) at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, in the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse ... Friday is Alumni Night and mini NDSU volleyballs will be given to the first 500 fans ... NDSU is scheduled to host Oral Roberts (5-9, 2-0 SL) at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1 ... Sunday is Girl Scouts Day ... The Golden Eagles play at South Dakota State on Friday ... NDSU is 5-0 at home this season ... Denver is 1-1 in the road matches, while Oral Roberts is 0-3.

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.

CARRIE (JACOBSON) MOTSCHENBACHER TO ENTER BISON ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME: Former North Dakota State volleyball All-American middle hitter Carrie (Jacobson) Motschenbacher will be inducted into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 29, in the Nodak Insurance Basketball Performance Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.

WIN STREAK: North Dakota State has won seven straight matches entering this weekend ... It's the longest streak since 2011 when the Bison won 10 in a row ... School record is 29 straight set in 1981.

THE SERIES: This will be the 13th meeting between North Dakota State and Denver ... The series is tied 6-6 ... The Pioneers won both matches last season ... This will be the 24th meeting between North Dakota State and Oral Roberts ... The Bison lead the series 15-8 ... The Bison won both meetings last season.

COMING SOON TO THE FRIENDLY CONFINES: After this weekend, North Dakota State returns to the Friendly Confines of the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse for a four-match homestand Oct. 13 through Oct. 22... NDSU is 5-0 at home in 2017 ... The Bison have compiled a 375-82 record good for a .820 winning percentage since 1978.

BISON ON TELEVISION: Nine North Dakota State women's volleyball matches will be televised by the BEK Broadcasting Network @BEKSports ... Next broadcast is 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, vs. Denver ... Corey Brooks is in his second season describing the action ... More information can be found at https://www.bektel.com/bbn/.

VOLLEYBALL ON BISON 1660 AM: Five North Dakota State University women's volleyball matches will be broadcast on Bison 1660 AM this season ... Next broadcast will be 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, when NDSU takes on Oral Roberts ... Keith Brake @The_Brakedown is in his second season handling the play-by-play.

BISON AND THE NCAA STATISTICS: In the NCAA statistics (9-25-17), North Dakota State was ranked 3rd in digs/set (18.73), 4th in aces/set (1.94), 6th in attacks/set (39.49), and 16th in opponent hitting pct. (.144) and service aces (95) ... S Brianna Rasmusson is 8th in aces/set (0.53) and 21st in aces (26) ... OH McKenzie Burke is 29th in attacks/set (11.69) ... Libero Mikaela Purnell is 7th in digs/set (5.96) and digs (292).

BISON CUT SHOTS: A pair of North Dakota State players are nearing career milestones ... Brianna Rasmusson has 964 digs and is bidding to become the 24th North Dakota State player to reach 1,000 digs in a career ... Outside hitter Erika Gelzinyte, who transferred from Columbus State (Ga.) has 945 kills ... Libero Mikaela Purnell was named MVP of the Florida Atlantic University Invitational (Sept. 15-16) after averaging 6.27 digs per set with eight assists and four aces ... Joining Purnell on the all-tournament team was setter Brianna Rasmusson and outside hitter McKenzie Burke ... Rasmusson was MVP of the NDSU Classic after averaging 10.20 assists and 3.00 digs per set on Sept. 1-2 ... Rasmusson hit .323, adding eight blocks and five service aces ... Joining Rasmusson on the NDSU Classic all-tournament team were outside hitter Erika Gelzinyte and middle hitter Emily Halverson ... Rasmusson was named to the Arizona State Sun Devil Classic all-tournament team (8-26-17) ... Gelzinyte was selected the AVSR Global Player of the Week on Aug. 28.

PURNELL PEGGED SUMMIT LEAGUE DEFENSIVE POTW: North Dakota State libero Mikaela Purnell was named Summit League Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 18 ... She earned the honor for the third time this season and is a seven-time winner overall ... Purnell averaged 6.27 digs/set over three matches, and added eight assists and four aces ... Setter Brianna Rasmusson was selected Summit League Offensive Player of the Week, while teammate middle hitter Bella Lien earned Defensive POTW honors on Sept. 5 ... It is the second career honor for Rasmusson ... It was the first time in nine seasons that NDSU swept the league weekly awards when Chrissy Knuth and Kelly Lopez were honored on Oct. 19, 2009.

PURNELL PILING UP DIGS: North Dakota State's Mikaela Purnell has 1,380 digs to rank 9th all-time at NDSU ... She has 68 matches with double-figure digs, including n13 in 2017 ... Purnell had 31 straight matches with double-figure digs from Sept. 18, 2016 to Sept. 16, 2017 ... Kari Fagnan (2004-07) is NDSU's all-time leader with 2,083.

CLIMBING THE CAREER LADDER: North Dakota State's Brianna Rasmusson and Mikaela Purnell are climbing the NDSU career ladder ... Rasmusson is 9th in assists (2763) and assists/set (6.76) ... Purnell is 1st in digs/set (4.57), 9th in digs (1380) and 18th in assists/set (0.52) ... She ranks 17th among NCAA active leaders in digs/set and 30th in digs ... Rasmusson is 31st in sets played (402).

BISON KILL TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2017/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+
Erika Gelzinyte (10/12)*       10   5   --   --
McKenzie Burke (8/8)       8   3   --   --
Emily Halverson (2/2)       2   --   --   --
Bella Lien (2/2)       2   --   --   --
Allie Mauch (1/1)       1   --   --   --
Jessica Jorgensen (0/12)       --   --   --   --
Alex Erickson (0/2)       --   --   --   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)       --   --   --   --
Brianna Rasmusson (0/1)       --   --   --   --

BISON DIG TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2017/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+   30+
Mikaela Purnell (13/68)       13   12   9 (29)   4 (15)   1 (8)
Brianna Rasmusson (6/41)       6   2   1 (3)   1 (2)   --
Abbi Klos (7/7)       7   2   --   --   --
Erika Gelzinyte (5/5)*       5   --   --   --   --
McKenzie Burke (5/5)       5   1   --   --   --

BISON DOUBLE-DOUBLE TRACKER
PLAYER (2017/Career)   Kills/Digs   Assists/Digs
Brianna Rasmusson (6/41)   --   6
Erika Gelzinyte (4/4)*   4   --
McKenzie Burke (2/2)   2   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)   --   --
*--at North Dakota State

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded 12 'double-doubles' in 2017 ... Brianna Rasmusson has six this season and 41 in her career including the 33 assist and career-high 26 dig effort in the 3-1 win at South Dakota (9-23-17) ... Erika Gelzinyte had her first NDSU 'double-double' against Weber State (12 kills, 13 digs / 8-26-17) and has four overall ... McKenzie Burke had her first NDSU 'double-double' against Appalachian State (18 kills, 12 digs / 9-9-17) and has two overall.

PURNELL NAMED TO LEAGUE'S PLAYER TO WATCH LIST: North Dakota State libero Mikaela Purnell was named to the Summit League's 2017 Players to Watch List ... Purnell (Excelsior, Minn./Minnetonka HS) led the league and ranked third nationally, averaging 5.70 digs/set and collected 479 overall last season ... She had 35 digs in a match twice in 2016.

NDSU PICKED FIFTH IN SUMMIT LEAGUE: North Dakota State was picked North Dakota State was fifth in the Summit League Volleyball Preseason Coach Poll ... NDSU tied for fifth with Omaha with 22 points ... Three-time defending champion Denver was first with 47 points overall and five of a possible eight first place votes ... South Dakota was second with 45 points and received the remaining three first place votes ... Oral Roberts was third with 35 and Fort Wayne was fourth with 33.

PURNELL SUMMIT LEAGUE DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: North Dakota State libero Mikaela Purnell was named Summit League Defensive Player of the Year as four Bison received all-league honors ... Purnell became the third NDSU player to receive the honor joining Kari Fagnan and two-time winner Kelly Lopez ... Emily Miron and Emily Minnick, along with Purnell were named to the All-Summit League team, while Alex Erickson was selected to the Summit League All-Freshmen Team.

PROUD HISTORY: North Dakota State won four straight Summit League regular-season titles from 2008-11 ... NDSU won outright titles with 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 2016-17 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 G.P.A. on a 4.0 scale ... NDSU received the award for the fifth consecutive year and 17th time overall.

THE COACH: Jennifer Lopez (North Dakota State, 2014) has an 11-3 record including 2-0 in the Summit League in her first season as interim head coach at North Dakota State ... After joining the Bison as an assistant coach in 2015, she was named interim head coach in May 2017 ... Lopez was the Summit League Setter of the Year, Player of the Year and Tournament MVP in 2011 as a senior for North Dakota State.