NDSU Opens Summit League Play at South Dakota, South Dakota State

NORTH DAKOTA STATEVOLLEYBALl

2008, 2010, 2011 NCAA Regional Participant2008, 2010, 2011 Summit League Tournament Champions

2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Summit League Regular Season ChampionsContact: Jeff Schwartz | (701) 231-8332 | (701) 793-0538 | Jeff.Schwartz@ndsu.edu

@NDSUvolleyball | @NDSUathletics | www.GoBison.com

at South Dakota, at South Dakota State September 20, 2017

Bison Schedule/Results(9-3, 0-0 Summit League)

AUGUST25 # vs Boise State L 0-325 # at Arizona State L 0-326 # vs Weber State W 3-1

SEPTEMBER1 % NORTHERN COLORADO W 3-02 % SAN FRANCISCO W 3-02 % FLORIDA A&M W 3-16 at North Dakota L 0-39 & GEORGE WASHINGTON W 3-09 & APPALACHIAN STATE W 3-215 @ vs Stetson W 3-116 @ at Florida Atlantic W 3-1 16 @ vs Savannah State W 3-023 * at South Dakota 7 p.m.24 * at South Dakota State 5 p.m.29 * DENVER 7 p.m.

OCTOBER1 * ORAL ROBERTS 1 p.m.6 * at Fort Wayne 6 p.m.13 * OMAHA 7 p.m.15 * WESTERN ILLINOIS 1 p.m.17 * SOUTH DAKOTA STATE 7 p.m.22 * SOUTH DAKOTA 1 p.m.27 * at Oral Roberts 7 p.m.29 * at Denver 2 p.m.

NOVEMBER3 * FORT WAYNE 7 p.m.10 * at Western Illinois 7 p.m.12 * at Omaha 1 p.m.17 ** Summit League Tournament TBA18 ** Summit League Tournament TBA19 ** Summit League Tournament TBA

LEGEND: #--Arizona State Sun Devil Volleyball Classic (Tempe, Ariz.); %--NDSU Classic (FARGO); &--NDSU Invitational (FARGO); @--FAU Invitational (Boca Raton, Fla.); *--Summit League Matches; **--Summit League Tournament (Denver, Colo.)

ALL TIMES CENTRAL

Bison Probable Starters (9-3, 0-0 Summit )Pos. No. Player Ht. Yr. Hometown StatsOH 2 Allie Mauch 6-1 Fr. Barney, N.D. .081, 1.52 k/s, 0.72 b/s, 29 blocksS 4 Brianna Rasmusson 5-11 Sr. Fergus Falls, Minn. .252, 9.69 a/s, 2.50 d/s, 22 acesOH 5 McKenzie Burke 5-11 RJr. Osceola, Wis. .114, 3.02 k/s, 2.34 d/s, 16 acesDS 7 Abbi Klos 5-6 RSo. La Crosse, Wis. 2.71 d/s, 23 assists, 12 aces, 1 killMH 8 Bella Lien 6-2 Fr. Rogers, Minn. .243, 1.38 k/s, 1.02 b/s, 43 blocksMH 9 Emily Halverson 6-3 Fr. Iowa City, Iowa .280, 1.60 k/s, 28 blocksOH 14 Erika Gelzinyte 6-0 RSr. Siauliai, Lithuania .184, 3.19 k/s, 2.24 d/s, 12 blocksL 16 Mikaela Purnell 5-9 Sr. Excelsior, Minn. 254 digs, 6.05 d/s, 36 assistsINTERIM HEAD COACH: Jennifer Lopez (NDSU ‘14, 1st Season, 9-3 overall)

THIS WEEK: North Dakota State (9-3) is scheduled to open the Summit League por-tion of its schedule on the road on Saturday, Sept. 23, and Sunday, Sept. 24 ... NDSU is scheduled to play South Dakota (6-6) at 7 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 23, in Vermillion ... The Bison are scheduled to play South Dakota State (2-11) at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24, in Brookings ... North Dakota State is 1-2 in away matches this season ... It is the home opening weekend for USD ... SDSU is 0-3 at home.

THE SERIES: This will be the 62nd meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota ... USD won two of three meetings last season including the Summit League semifinals match in Denver ... This will be the 93rd meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota State ... NDSU won both meetings last season.

COMING SOON TO THE FRIENDLY CONFINES: North Dakota State returns to the Friendly Confines of the air-conditioned Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, against Denver University ... The Bison then host Oral Roberts at 1 p.m. Sun-day, Oct. 1 ... NDSU is 5-0 at home in 2017 ... The Bison have compiled a 375-82 record good for a .820 winning percentage since 1978.

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.

BISON AND THE NCAA STATISTICS: In the NCAA statistics (9-18-17), North Dakota State was collectively 4th in aces/set (1.98), 7th in digs/set (18.26), 16th in service aces (83), 17th in attacks/set (38.50) and 24th in opponent hitting pct. (.148) ... Individually, Mikaela Purnell is 5th in digs per set (6.05) and 21sts in digs (254), and Brianna Ras-musson is 21st in aces/set (0.52) and aces (22).

BISON VOLLEYBALL 2

BISON CUT SHOTS: North Dakota State 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 set-ter 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.

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.

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 ac-tion ... 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. PURNELL PILING UP DIGS: North Dakota State’s Mikaela Purnell has 1,342 digs to rank 10th all-time at NDSU ... She has 66 matches with double-figure digs, including nine 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 (2698) and assists per set (6.71) ... Purnell is 1st in digs per set (4.55), 9th in digs (1342) and 18th in assists per game (0.52) ... She ranks 20th among NCAA active leaders in digs per set.

Sept. 19, 2017 League Overall W-L Pct. W-L Pct.Denver 0-0 .000 9-3 .750North Dakota State 0-0 .000 9-3 .750Fort Wayne 0-0 .000 8-7 .533South Dakota 0-0 .000 6-6 .500Western Illinois 0-0 .000 5-9 .357Oral Roberts 0-0 .000 3-9 .250Omaha 0-0 .000 3-10 .231South Dakota State 0-0 .000 2-11 .154

SCHEDULEFriday, Sept. 22* Western Illinois at South Dakota, 7 p.m.* South Dakota State at Omaha, 7 p.m.* Fort Wayne at Oral Roberts, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 23* North Dakota State at South Dakota, 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 24* Western Illinois at Oral Roberts, 1 p.m.* Fort Wayne at Denver, 2 p.m.* North Dakota State at South Dakota State, 5 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 29* South Dakota at Fort Wayne, 6 p.m.* Omaha at Western Illinois, 7 p.m.* Denver at North Dakota State, 7 p.m.* Oral Roberts at South Dakota State, 7 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 1* Omaha at Fort Wayne, 12 p.m.* Oral Roberts at North Dakota State, 1 p.m.* Denver at South Dakota State, 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 3* Denver at Omaha, 7 p.m.* Oral Roberts at South Dakota, 7 p.m.

* -- Summit League MatchAll TImes Central

The 2017 Bison Volleyball RosterNo. Name Pos. Ht. Yr. Hometown (Previous School)1 Jessica Jorgensen MH 6-1 Sr. Blaine, Minn. (Blaine HS)2 Allie Mauch OH 6-1 Fr. Barney, N.D. (Wyndmere HS)4 Brianna Rasmusson S/OH 5-11 Sr. Fergus Falls, Minn. (Fergus Falls HS)5 McKenzie Burke OH 5-11 Jr. Osceola, Wis. (Osceola HS)6 Alex Erickson OH 5-10 So. Kindred, N.D. (Kindred HS)7 Abbi Klos DS 5-6 So. La Crosse, Wis. (La Crosse Central HS)8 BellaLien MH 6-2 Fr. Rogers,Minn.(HeritageChristianHS)9 Emily Halverson MH 6-3 Fr. Iowa City, Iowa (Iowa City West HS)11 PaigeSchaffer DS/L 5-2 Fr. Bismarck,N.D.(ShilohChristianHS)13 Alexis Bachmeier OH/S 5-9 Fr. Fargo, N.D. (Fargo North HS)14 Erika Gelzinyte OH 6-0 Sr. Siauliai, Lithuania (Juliaus Janonio/Columbus State)15 Emilee McGowan DS/L 5-5 Fr. Marion, Iowa (Linn Mar HS) 16 Mikaela Purnell DS/L 5-9 Sr. Excelsior, Minn. (Minnetonka HS)Interim Head Coach: Jennifer Lopez (North Dakota State, 2014)Assistant Coach: Natalie Thomas (Minnesota State Moorhead, 2014)Graduate Assistant: Tyler Golsteyn (IPFW, 2016)Volunteer Assistant: Jace HolmAthletic Training Graduate Assistant: Meghan Smith (Wisconsin, 2016)Student Assistant:HadleySteffenStudent Manager: Rainey Selvig

PRONUNCIATIONS2 Allie Mauck ...m(ow)k4 Brianna (bree-ANN-uh) Rasmusson (RASS-muss-in)7 Abbi Klos . ..like “close”8 Bella Lien . ..(LEE-en)13 Alexis Bachmeier (BOCK-my-er)14 Erika Gelzinyte (GHELL-zin-EE-tay)15 Emilee (EM-ih-lee) McGowan (mih-G(OW)-en)16 Mikaela Purnell....Pur-NELL

Saturday, Nov. 11* South Dakota State at Fort Wayne, 6 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 12* Denver at Western Illinois, 1 p.m.* North Dakota State at Omaha, 2 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 17Summit League Tournament

Saturday, Nov. 18Summit League Tournament

Sunday, Nov. 19Summit League Tournament

* -- Summit League MatchAll TImes Central

BISON VOLLEYBALL 3

BISON KILL TRACKERPLAYER (DF 2017/Career) 10+ 15+ 20+ 25+ Erika Gelzinyte (8/10)* 8 3 -- --McKenzie Burke (7/7) 7 3 -- --Emily Halverson (2/2) 2 -- -- --Allie Mauch (1/1) 1 -- -- --Bella Lien (1/1) 1 -- -- --Jessica Jorgensen (0/12) -- -- -- --Alex Erickson (0/2) -- -- -- --Mikaela Purnell (0/1) -- -- -- --Brianna Rasmusson (0/1) -- -- -- --

BISON DIG TRACKERPLAYER (DF 2017/Career) 10+ 15+ 20+ 25+ 30+Mikaela Purnell (11/66) 11 10 8 (28) 4 (15) 1 (8)Brianna Rasmusson (4/39) 4 1 -- (2) -- (1) --Abbi Klos (6/6) 6 1 -- -- --Erika Gelzinyte (4/4)* 4 -- -- -- --McKenzie Burke (4/4) 4 -- -- -- --

BISON DOUBLE-DOUBLE TRACKERPLAYER (2017/Career) Kills/Digs Assists/DigsBrianna Rasmusson (4/39) -- 4Erika Gelzinyte (3/3)* 3 --McKenzie Burke (1/1) 1 --Mikaela Purnell (0/1) -- --*--at North Dakota State

DOUBLE VISION: North Dakota State has recorded eight ‘double-doubles’ in 2017 ... Brianna Rasmusson has four this season and 39 in her career including the 40 assist and 15 dig effort in the 3-1 win at Florida (9-16-17) ... Erika Gelzinyte had her first NDSU ‘double-double’ against Weber State (12 kills, 13 digs / 8-26-17) and has three overall ... McKenzie Burke had her first NDSU ‘double-double’ against Appalachian State (18 kills, 12 digs / 9-9-17).

PURNELL NAMED TO LEAGUE’S PLAYER TO WATCH LIST: North Dakota State li-bero/defensive specialist Mikaela Purnell was named to the Summit League’s Player to Watch List ... Purnell, a 5-foot-9 junior from Excelsior, Minn. (Minnetonka HS) ranked third nationally, averaging 5.70 digs per set and collected 479 overall last season.

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-sea-son 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 Tourna-ments.

NDSU RECORD WHEN:Overall 9-3Conference 0-0Non-Conference 9-3

Home 5-0Away 1-2Neutral 3-1

Ranked 0-0Unranked 9-3

3-set 4-34-set 4-05-set 1-0

August 1-2September 8-1October 0-0November 0-0December 0-0

In Set One 7-5In Set Two 9-3In Set Three 6-6In Set Four 4-1In Set Five 1-0

Higher Hitting % 8-0Lower Hitting % 1-3Same Hitting % 0-0

More Kills 8-0Less Kills 1-3Same Kills 0-0

More Blocks 5-1Less Blocks 4-2Same Blocks 0-0

More Digs 6-0Less Digs 2-3Same Digs 1-0

More Assists 8-0Less Assists 1-3Same Assists 0-0

More Aces 9-1Less Aces 0-2Same Aces 0-0

Longest Match 2:04 vs. Appalachian State (9-9-17Shortest Match 1:14 vs. SSU (9-16-17); vs. GWU (9-9-17)Largest Home Crowd 864 vs. Appalachian State (9-9-17)Largest Away Crowd 3140 at North Dakota (9-6-17)

BISON VOLLEYBALL 4

VolleyballMag.com/NIVC Mid-MajorTop 25

Issued: September 18, 2017 Next Poll: September 25, 2017

Rk School Points W-L Prv1 BYU 647 (24) 11-1 22 San Diego 603(1) 7-3 33 Creighton 586 7-4 14 Cal Poly 556 10-2 45 Western Kentucky 527 13-2 76 Wichita State 518 8-3 67 Northern Iowa 490 10-4 98 Colorado State 473 10-2 59 Lipscomb 419 6-6 810 Missouri State 407 8-5 1011 North Dakota 373 15-2 1112 Marquette 355 6-5 1213 UC Irvine 304 11-1 1414 Dayton 275 8-6 1315 Boise State 247 7-5 1716 Hawai’i 232 6-5 1617 Denver 210 9-3 1518 Austin Peay 204 11-2 1919 Miami (OH) 172 9-5 1820 Loyola Marymount 161 7-4 2121 North Texas 144 12-1 2322 SMU 112 6-5 2023 Towson 76 14-0 2524 Rice 59 10-4 NR25 Radford 45 11-1 NROthers receiving votes and listed on two or more ballots: VCU 36; Portland 29; Illinois State 25; Xavier 22; Central Arkansas 21; Villanova 16; James Madison 15; Butler 10; Princeton 6; Southern Miss 5.12 teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 70 combined points.Dropped Out: Portland 24; Villanova 22.

The VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll includes all teams not in the “power-five” conferences (ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12).

Bold--NDSU Opponent

MAKING THE GRADE: The North Dakota State University volleyball team was hon-ored 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 a 9-3 record 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.

BISON VOLLEYBALL 5

BISON VOLLEYBALL 6

BISON VOLLEYBALL 7

1Jessica JORGENSEN6-1 | Sr. | Middle HitterBlaine, MinnesotaBlaine HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

Career Stats

2

Allie MAUCH6-1 | Fr. | Outside HitterBarney, North DakotaWyndmere HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

BISON VOLLEYBALL 8

4Brianna RASMUSSON5-11 | Sr. | SetterFergus Falls, MinnesotaFergus Falls HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

Career Stats

BISON VOLLEYBALL 9

5McKenzie Burke5-11 | RJr. | Outside HitterOsceola, WisconsinOsceola HS

Career Match Highs

Career Stats

MAtch-By-Match

BISON VOLLEYBALL 10

6Alex Erickson5-10 | RSo. | Outside HitterDavenport, North DakotaKindred HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

Career Stats

BISON VOLLEYBALL 11

Career Match Highs7Abbi Klos5-6 | RSo. | Defensive SpecialistStoddard, WisconsinLa Crosse Central HS

MAtch-By-Match

Career Stats

BISON VOLLEYBALL 12

8Bella LIEN6-2 | Fr. | Middle HitterRogers, MinnesotaHeritage Christian Academy HS

MAtch-By-Match

Career Match Highs

BISON VOLLEYBALL 13

9Emily HALVERSON6-3 | Fr. | Middle HitterIowa City, IowaIowa City West HS

MAtch-By-Match

Career Match Highs

11Paige SCHAFFER5-2 | Fr. | Defensive Specialist / LiberoBismarck, North DakotaShiloh Christian HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

BISON VOLLEYBALL 14

13Alexis BACHMEIER5-9 | Fr. | Outside Hitter / SetterFargo, North DakotaFargo North HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

BISON VOLLEYBALL 15

14Erika GELZINYTE6-0 | Sr. | Outside HitterSiauliai, LithuaniaJuliaus JanonioColumbus State (Ga.)

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

Career Stats

BISON VOLLEYBALL 16

15Emilee McGOWAN5-5 | Fr. | Defensive Specialist / LiberoMarion, IowaLinn Mar HS

Career Match Highs

MAtch-By-Match

BISON VOLLEYBALL 17

16Mikaela PURNELL5-9 | Sr. | Libero /Defensive SpecialistExcelsior, MinnesotaMinnetonka HS

MAtch-By-Match

Career Stats

Career Match Highs