North Dakota State Travels to Denver, Omaha For Summit League Road Tests

Friday, October 14

Denver, Colo.

7 p.m. MT

North Dakota State

Denver

Photo by: Kim Hill

North Dakota State Travels to Denver, Omaha For Summit League Road Tests

10/12/2016 12:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

NDSU Volleyball Release (10-12-16).pdf
Friday, October 14, 8 p.m. (CT) at Denver | Live Stats
Sunday, October 16, 2 p.m. at Omaha | Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video (Pay Per View)

North Dakota State (4-2 Summit League, 6-13) is scheduled to continue on the Summit League road with matches at Denver (4-2 SL, 12-6) at 8 p.m. Central Friday, Oct. 14, and at Omaha (1-5 SL, 4-16) at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16 ... The Bison are 2-6 in road matches ... The Pioneers are 6-1 at home this season, while Omaha is 2-7.

UP NEXT: North Dakota State continues on the Summit League road at Oral Roberts on Saturday, Oct. 22, before returning home to host the University of North Dakota at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse to start a four-match homestand.

THE SERIES: North Dakota State trails in the series with Omaha 41-38 ... The Mavericks won both meetings against the Bison last season ... North Dakota State leads the series with Denver 6-4 ... Last season, the Pioneers won in Denver and the Bison won in Fargo.

MIRON REACHES 1,000 KILLS: North Dakota State's Emily Miron, a 6-foot-2 senior middle blocker from Wadena, Minn., became the 23rd player to reach 1,000 career kills during the first set of the 3-1 Bison win at Western Illinois (10-2-16) ... Miron currently is 21st all-time in kills with 1,039 kills.

BISON CUT SHOTS: Through 19 matches, Hadley Steffen tops North Dakota State with six 'double-doubles' ... Steffen dropped the hammer for a career-high 20 kills in the 3-2 win at South Dakota State (10-11-16) ... NDSU middle blocker Emily Minnick was named all-tournament at the UNI Tournament on Sept. 16-18 ... Minnick has 972 career kills ... Minnicked 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) and a career best 54 assists against Oral Roberts (9-23-16) ... The win over Bradley snapped a seven-match losing streak dating back to last season ... 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 227th (334 schools) in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) released by the NCAA on Oct. 9, 2016 ... The Bison were the fifth-ranked team in the Summit League behind South Dakota (75), Denver (150), IUPUI (173) and Fort Wayne (211) ... Following NDSU were Oral Roberts (246), Omaha (290), South Dakota State (291) and Western Illinois (292).

RASMUSSON NAMED SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State junior setter Brianna Rasmusson was selected Summit League Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 26 ... It was the 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.

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 1,260 digs to rank 9th all-time ... She has 67 matches with double-figure digs in her career, six this season ... Milligan is also 5th all-time in digs per set (3.27) ... 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 ladder ... Milligan is also 17th in assists per set (0.55) and 20th in assists (212) ... Claxton is 9th in assists per set (6.76) and assists (2,291) ... Miron is 9th with 79 solo blocks ... Minnick is 15th in attack percentage (.290, 972-305-2298) and T15th in solo blocks (59) ... Rasmusson is 10th in assists per set (5.85) and 11th in assists (1,809).

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded a dozen (12) 'double-doubles' this season ... Senior Hadley Steffen has six 'double-doubles' this season and seven in her career ... Junior Brianna Rasmusson has five 'double-doubles' this season and has 27 in her career following the 54-assist, 18-dig performance vs. Oral Roberts (9-23-16) ... 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 (7/50)       7   1 (10)   --   --
Emily Minnick (8/43)       8   2 (11)   -- (2)   --
Hadley Steffen (13/18)       13   2 (3)   1   --
Jessica Jorgensen (4/11)       4   --   --   --
Alex Erickson (2/2)       2   --   --   --
Mikaela Purnell (0/1)       --   --   --   --
Brianna Rasmusson (0/1)       --   --   --   --

BISON DIG TRACKER
PLAYER (DF 2016/Career)   10+   15+   20+   25+   30+
Emily Milligan (6/67)       6   2   1 (12)   -- (2)   --
Mikaela Purnell (8/42)       8   6   2 (12)   2 (4)   1 (2)
Brianna Rasmusson (5/27)       5   2   -- (1)   --   --
Monica Claxton (1/22)       1   --   --   --   --
Hadley Steffen (6/15)       6   1   -- (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 (5/27)   --   5
Monica Claxton (1/21)   --   1
Hadley Steffen (6/7)   6   --
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.

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 a 94-93 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.