THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State women's volleyball team (2-4) is home for its next five straight matches and opens the Summit League schedule this week against Southern Utah (2-5) on Friday, Sept. 10, and UMKC (3-5) on Saturday, Sept. 11. Game time is 7 p.m. both nights at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse (1,206) in Fargo. Live stats and live video for both matches will be available on GoBison.com.

TICKETS & PARKING: Tickets for North Dakota State home volleyball matches are available in advance at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office, online at GoBison.com/tickets, or by telephone toll free at (888) 231-NDSU. General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth ages 17 and under. Game day tickets are sold at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. Doors open 1 hour prior to the match. Free parking after 4:30 p.m. is available in the CF and SF lots adjacent to the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, Vistors Lot E, and the RF lot south of the Bison Sports Arena. Click here for a map.



THE SERIES: Friday will be the third meeting between North Dakota State and Southern Utah. NDSU has a 2-0 lead in the series after 3-0 victories home and away last year. ... Saturday will be the 12th meeting between North Dakota State and UMKC. The Bison have an 11-0 lead in the series, including a 9-0 mark as Division I opponents. NDSU won 3-1 in Kansas City and 3-0 at home twice last year, including the Summit League semifinal. The teams first met in the 1982 and 1983 seasons at the Kansas State Invitational.

ABOUT SOUTHERN UTAH: The Thunderbirds are 2-5 and have lost four straight entering Friday's match, including 3-0 losses to North Dakota, Drake and Wisconsin-Green Bay last weekend at the Drake Invitational. Summit League Freshman of the Year Analaine Pelaez is one of six starters back from last year's team that went 9-20 in its inaugural season of Division I volleyball and placed eighth in The Summit League with a 7-12 record. Pelaez ranked first in The Summit with 4.35 kills per set in league play last year. She leads the Thunderbirds with 3.62 kills and 3.58 digs per set through the first seven matches. Head coach Debby Baker (Utah State, 1993) has an 11-25 record in her second year.

ABOUT UMKC: The Kangaroos are 3-5 heading into a Tuesday night home match with Drake. UMKC snapped a three-match losing streak with victories over Fairfield and South Dakota on Saturday. Five starters return from last year's 15-16 team that tied for fourth place with a 10-8 record in The Summit League. Outside hitter Elizabeth Beck leads the UMKC attack with 3.52 kills per set, All-Summit League second team middle hitter Christiana McQuin is averaging a block per set, and libero Nicole Kerkman leads the team with 3.41 digs per set. Head coach Geno Frugoli (UNLV, 1992) has a 35-68 record in his fourth season.

LAST WEEK: North Dakota State picked up wins over Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Florida International last week, but lost to 12th-ranked Iowa State and Drake. NDSU dropped to 0-7 against AVCA Top 25 teams but avoided a sweep for the first time against a ranked opponent with a 25-21 win in the second set against Iowa State. ... Sophomore libero Andrea Henning made a match- and career-high 25 digs, and junior middle hitter Janna Deyle tied a career high with seven blocks in the win over Florida International. ... Junior setter Jennifer Lopez got her ninth collegiate triple-double with 13 kills, 23 assists and 15 digs at Drake. ... Senior outside hitter Lauren McLaughlin led the defensive effort with 4.12 digs per set over the weekend. McLaughlin leads the Bison in kills, digs and points through the first six matches.

BISON CARRY LEAGUE-RECORD WINNING STREAK: North Dakota State enters the season with a 37-match winning streak in Summit League play. That is a league record, surpassing the mark of 34 straight league wins set by Northern Illinois in 1992 and 1993 when the Huskies went 16-0 and 18-0. Only two other schools have won more than 20 straight league matches. Oral Roberts won 29 straight from 1997 to 1999 and Valparaiso won 21 in a row from 2003 to 2005.

BISON OPEN WITH FIVE NCAA TEAMS: North Dakota State opened its season with five straight opponents who reached the NCAA tournament a year ago. Louisville (21-11) has played in 12 straight NCAAs and Ohio (27-7) has won six of the last seven Mid-American Conference titles and played in seven straight NCAAs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee has played in two straight and three of the last four NCAA tournaments out of the Horizon League, Iowa State was Big 12 runner-up and finshed 27-5 after its fourth straight NCAA tournament, and Florida International was 32-4 and has played in the last two NCAAs out of the Sun Belt Conference.

SIX STARTERS RETURN FOR BISON: North Dakota State returns all six starters from last year's 23-4 team that won The Summit League with an 18-0 record. They are senior outside hitters Lauren McLaughlin and Brooke VandenBergh, junior middle hitters Chrissy Knuth and Janna Deyle, sophomore right-side hitter Brynn Joki, and junior setter Jennifer Lopez. Knuth is a two-time Summit League Player of the Year. She was an AVCA all-region honorable mention and ranked 18th in the nation last year with a .373 hitting percentage. and

NDSU TOP 10 IN DIGS THREE STRAIGHT YEARS: North Dakota State finished in the top 10 nationally in digs per set for the third straight season in 2009. NDSU ranked ninth with an average of 18.00 digs per set after ranking third in 2008 and fourth in 2007. Individually, senior libero Kelly Lopez ranked 40th in the nation with an average of 4.90 digs per set. Lopez was named the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season.

NDSU 45th IN FINAL RPI: North Dakota State's No. 45 ranking in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index was the highest finish for NDSU in four seasons of Division I eligibility. The Bison were as high as 38th in the weekly RPI released Oct. 26.

BISON EARN SEVENTH STRAIGHT TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD: The North Dakota State women's volleyball team earned its seventh straight AVCA Team Academic Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association in July. With a team grade-point average of 3.48, North Dakota State was one of a record 94 NCAA Division I women's volleyball teams honored for the 2009-10 academic year. It was NDSU's 12th team academic award in 15 years.

NDSU 31st NATIONALLY IN HOME ATTENDANCE: North Dakota State drew 14,653 spectators to 11 home dates last season for an average of 1,332 that ranked 31st among all Division I schools. It was an increase of 362 fans per match and 11 spots higher than NDSU's ranking in 2008. Ten crowds over a thousand filled the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, including a season-high 1,808 against South Dakota State that was the second largest crowd in school history. NDSU has drawn more than a thousand fans to 16 of its last 18 home matches.

HOME SWEET HOME: North Dakota State plays its home volleyball matches on campus at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, where the Bison have won 32 of 36 home matches since 2006. NDSU will host the Summit League tournament for the second straight year Nov. 19-20. The completely renovated facility seats 1,206 fans in new chairback seats. NDSU has a 322-57 record at the BBF since 1978.

BISON UNANIMOUS NO. 1 IN PRESEASON POLL: For the second straight season, North Dakota State is the unanimous favorite to win The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league's 10 head coaches. NDSU collected all nine possible first-place votes for 81 points, IPFW was second with 64 points, UMKC (54) was third and Oakland (53) fourth. The top four teams from the regular season advance to the Summit League tournament Nov. 19-20 at NDSU.

2009 Record Team (First-Place Votes) Pts Overall League 1. North Dakota State (9) 81 23-4 18-0 2. IPFW (1) 64 20-12 11-7 3. UMKC 54 15-16 10-8 4. Oakland 53 17-10 10-8 5. South Dakota State 49 10-17 9-9 6. IUPUI 47 20-10 12-6 7. Oral Roberts 39 12-15 8-10 8. Southern Utah 35 9-20 7-11 9. Western Illinois 19 10-21 5-13 10. Centenary 9 4-26 0-18