THIS WEEK
The North Dakota State (7-4, 1-0 Summit) volleyball team continues Summit League play at Kansas City (1-14, 0-2 Summit) on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. The Bison will wrap the week at Omaha (3-8, 0-2 Summit) on Saturday. First serve is set for 5:00 p.m.
 
MATCH COVERAGE
GoBison.com: Both contests will feature live statistics and will be streamed on the Summit League Network for subscribers. Links to live stats, live video and audio can be found at GoBison.com/coverage.
 
LAST TIME OUT
NDSU won its fourth straight Summit League opener after picking up a 3-0 win over North Dakota last week. Lauren Jansen paced the Bison with a team-best 11 kills on 26 attempts for a .346 hitting percentage. She also added four digs, two blocks and one assist to her stat line. Baily Randall narrowly missed a double-double with eight kills and six digs.
 
THE SERIES VS. KANSAS CITY
This will be the 30th all-time meeting between NDSU and Kansas City dating back to 1982. The Bison have won each of the last two meetings and lead the series, 22-7. In their most recent meeting last season, NDSU blanked Kansas City, 3-0, in Fargo. Arianna Blohm totaled a match-high 11 kills with three blocks and Maddy Dombeck handed out a match-best 18 assists.
 
THE SERIES VS. OMAHA
This will be the 102nd all-time meeting between NDSU and Omaha dating back to 1978 with the Mavericks leading the series, 57-44. Omaha has won each of the last two matchups, including a 3-1 win over the Bison in Fargo last season. Maddy Dombeck passed out 12 assists with six digs, while Baily Randall added six kills.
 
THE BBF ADVANTAGE
The Bison have started the season with a 6-0 mark at home, including a 3-0 sweep over North Dakota last week in front of 1,205 fans. It marks the first time since 2020 that the Bison have won each of their first six home matches. Dating back to last season, the Bison have won each of their last eight matches at Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, which is the longest streak since winning 10 straight from 2019-20.
 
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
The Bison started the season with back-to-back sweeps after topping Bowling Green, 3-0, and Temple, 3-0. It marked the first time since 2011 that NDSU opened the season with back-to-back sweeps. NDSU has recorded four sweeps in its first 11 matches this season.
 
LOCKED IN FROM THE SERVICE LINE
NDSU was one of the most effective teams in the Summit League at the service line last season after leading the league with 1.65 service aces per set. The Bison have carried that into this season and currently rank second in the Summit League with 1.95 aces per set, which ranks 28th in the nation. Baily Randall leads the Bison with 0.46 aces per set, which is slotted third in the Summit League.
 
MIDDLE PRODUCTION
Arianna Blohm leads NDSU with 41.0 total blocks and is averaging 1.05 blocks per set, which ranks fifth in the Summit League. She's also one of the most efficient offensive players in the lineup with a .330 hitting percentage through 11 matches. Blohm has totaled 81 kills on 179 attempts with only 22 errors this season. Her 81 kills rank third on the team.
 
CONSISTENT START
Lauren Jansen has reached double digits in kills in nine of the first 11 matches this season. She leads the team with 126 total kills and is averaging a team-high 3.23 kills per set. Jansen has contributed two double-doubles in each of the last four matches, including a match-best 16 kills with 12 digs against Southern Illinois.
 
IMPACT FRESHMAN
Rya Borer has been in the starting lineup each of the first 11 matches in her freshman season. She has tallied double digits in digs in nine of the first 11 matches and leads the Bison with a team-best 145 digs (3.72/set). Borer has contributed at least 20 digs in two matches, including a season-best 21 in the win over Oakland.
 
UTILITY PLAYER
After only appearing in two matches primarily as a setter against Montana and Idaho, Emily Bruss has appeared in each of the last four matches as an outside hitter. She totaled nine kills, including a career-best seven kills against Arkansas State. Bruss appeared in 18 matches in her freshman season at setter and has totaled 278 career assists, which ranks second on the team among active players on the roster.
 
SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYERS TO WATCH
Senior middle blocker Ally Barth and junior outside hitter Lauren Jansen were selected to the Summit League Players to Watch list. Entering the 2025 season, Barth has posted 190 blocks over the last two seasons and has tallied 389 kills. Jansen has tallied 371 kills and is averaging 2.41 kills per set over two seasons. The Plainfield, Ill., native has also contributed 49 service aces, including a career-best and team-high 34 last season.
 
SUMMIT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
The Bison were picked to finish sixth in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll and garnered 32 points. South Dakota State earned the top spot with 62 points and six first place votes.
 
RUNNING THE OFFENSE
The Bison return 61.9 percent of their assist production from last season after Maddy Dombeck and Emily Bruss combined for 692 assists in their freshman season. Dombeck handed out a team-best 464 assists over 26 matches last season, while Bruss added 228 over 18 matches.
 
EXPERIENCE IN THE LINEUP
NDSU returns seven starters from last season: Baily Randall, Arianna Blohm, Maddy Dombeck, Emma Tallman, Lauren Jansen, Emily Bruss and Ally Barth. Barth leads the team with 79 matches played over four seasons, while Blohm has appeared in 66 matches over three seasons.
 
PORTAL ADDITIONS
The Bison added three players in the offseason through the transfer portal. Cathy Porter joined the Bison after two seasons at Hillsborough Community College and totaled 550 assists over 43 matches. Abi Banitt joined the Bison after two seasons at SIUE. She posted a team-high 355 digs in her freshman season, which ranked ninth in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). Zoe John joined the Bison after one season at Pacific and appeared in 23 matches with 96 kills.
 
YOUNG BISON
The Bison have six newcomers on the roster this season, including three true freshmen: Natasha Kidd, Abby Carpenter and Rya Borer. The roster is constructed of 56 percent underclassman with three freshman, one redshirt freshman (Sadie Johnson) and five sophomores (Tanith Roush, Maddy Dombeck, Layla Haritatos, Emily Bruss and Zoe John).
 
LOOKING BACK AT THE 2024 SEASON
The Bison posted a 12-14 (8-8 Summit) overall record last season. NDSU made its third straight appearance in the Summit League Championship before falling short against Denver in the first round. It marked the first time in three seasons that the Bison didn't advance to at least the
semifinal round.
 
BIG SHOES TO FILL
NDSU has been working to replace two of the most successful players in program history each of the last two seasons. Kelley Johnson wrapped up her career in 2023 and finished with the most assists in the NDSU Division I era with 4,019, which ranked sixth all-time in Bison history. She was a two-time Summit League Setter of the Year and two-time All-Summit League First Team selection. Ali Hinze finished her career last season and totaled the most kills in the NDSU Division I era with 1,767, which ranked fifth in Bison history. Hinze earned All-Summit League honors all five seasons, including being named to the first team in 2022 and 2023.
 
THIS IS OUR HOUSE
The Bison have called Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse home since 1978 and have notched a 423-112 overall record at home during that span. NDSU picked up its 400th win at the BBF after sweeping Kansas City, 3-0, on Oct. 1, 2022.
 
TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS IN THE CLASSROOM
NDSU earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award for the 13th straight year in 2024-25. The award recognizes collegiate and high school programs across the country that maintained a year-long grade-point average of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale. The Bison registered a 3.63 cumulative GPA last season.
 
UP NEXT
NDSU will return home hosting Oral Roberts on Thursday, Oct. 9. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m., at Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.