SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Two weeks into the 2021 volleyball season and the league’s 10 members have shown some impressive performance thus far with week three looking to be nothing less than competitive.
 
This week’s schedule has all 10 members taking the court with a matchup against another nationally-ranked opponent to highlight the action. Week three starts Thursday with South Dakota hosting Bradley at 6 p.m. CT and Denver hosting Air Force at 7 p.m. CT.
 
Around The Summit League | All Match Times Central
Thursday, September 9
South Dakota vs. Bradley | 6 p.m.
Denver vs. Air Force | 7 p.m.
 
Friday, September 10
Western Illinois vs. Western Colorado | 9 a.m.
Oral Roberts vs. Arkansas | 10 a.m.
Omaha vs. Illinois | 10:30 a.m.
South Dakota vs. Central Arkansas | 12 p.m.
North Dakota State vs. Butler | 12 p.m.
Kansas City vs. Arkansas State | 1:30 p.m.
Kansas City vs. Marshall | 4:30 p.m.
Western Illinois at Eastern Kentucky | 5 p.m.
Oral Roberts vs. Stephen F. Austin | 5 p.m.
St. Thomas vs. Yale | 5:30 p.m.
South Dakota State at Toledo | 6 p.m.
Denver vs. Cal State Fullerton | 7 p.m.
North Dakota vs. Drake | 7 p.m.
South Dakota vs. Milwaukee | 7:30 p.m.
North Dakota State at Cal | 9 p.m.
 
Saturday, September 11
St. Thomas vs. Tarleton State | 8:30 a.m.
South Dakota State vs. Youngstown State | 9 a.m.
Western Illinois vs. New Mexico State | 10 a.m.
Kansas City vs. Memphis | 10:30 a.m.
North Dakota vs. Green Bay | 11 a.m.
Omaha vs. SMU | 12:30 p.m.
North Dakota State vs. Nevada | 2 p.m.
Oral Roberts vs. Tulsa | 3 p.m.
South Dakota State vs. Valparaiso | 3:30 p.m.
Denver vs. Idaho | 4:30 p.m.
St. Thomas at Stony Brook | 5:30 p.m.
North Dakota vs. Montana | 7 p.m.
Omaha at #19 Creighton | 7:30 p.m.
 
Around The League

• Oral Roberts is now 6-0 after defeating UT Martin (3-2), Alabama A&M (3-0) and Southern Illinois (3-1) to claim the Saluki Bash title.
• Sakira LaCour paced the Golden Eagle offense over the weekend leading the team with 36 kills averaging 3.0 kills per set while hitting a .325 clip. She tallied double-digit kills in all three matches, including 11 kills on 14 swings with zero errors for a .786 hitting percentage in the victory over Alabama A&M.
• Kansas City and South Dakota State collected a perfect record at their respective tournaments. At the Black and Gold Challenge, the Roos defeated host Appalachian State (3-1), East Tennessee State (3-0) and Old Dominion (3-0). At the SDSU Invite, the Jackrabbits swept both Montana and California Baptist.
• De’Janae Arnold led the Roos averaging 2.5 kills with 25 kills on the weekend and a .396 hitting percentage. She capped off the Black and Gold Challenge throwing down a career-high 13 kills in the sweep of Old Dominion, hitting at a .571 clip.
• Maddie Renn paced the defensive effort for the Roos averaging 6.4 digs per set and totaling 64 digs on the weekend. She posted a career-high 29 digs against Appalachian State and has three performances of 20+ digs on the year so far.
• Helping lead SDSU to a pair of sweeps was Chloe Stitt who tallied 24 kills, 4.0 kills per set, hit .370 contributed 1.17 digs per set and .83 blocks on the weekend. To close the SDSU Invite, Stitt tallied a season-high 14 kills on a .357 hitting percentage.
• At the net for the Jacks, Ella Thompson tallied 12 blocks for an average of 2.0 blocks per set. She registered a season-high eight block assists against California Baptist.
• Denver and North Dakota State finished the weekend’s competition holding 2-1 records.
• Denver opened the Denver Invitational with a 3-0 loss to Northern Colorado but bounced back and swept Northeastern and Mercer. Tina Boe led the offensive effort accumulating 27 kills and a .480 hitting percentage. Defensively, Gianna Bartalo recorded 24 digs in the Denver Invitational including two matches with 10+ digs.
• North Dakota State fell 3-0 to Windy City Classic host Chicago State but defeated Charlotte 3-2 and Niagara 3-0. Ali Hinze was selected to the all-tournament team after notching a team-high 35 kills, 3.18 kills per set, 30 digs and 2.73 digs per set on the weekend. Hinze logged back-to-back double-doubles, including a season-best 16 digs and 15 kills in the win over Charlotte.
• Omaha and St. Thomas both came home with a 1-2 record during the second week of competition.
• The Mavericks took No. 4 Nebraska and Arizona State to five sets and downed Georgia in four sets at the Ameritas Players Challenge. Sadie Limback paced the efforts for Omaha as she tallied 48 kills with a .339 hitting percentage in the three matches. On the defensive end, Claire Mountjoy recorded 72 digs on the weekend including 26 in back-to-back matches against Arizona State and Georgia.
• St. Thomas picked up its first Division I victory at the UIW Cardinal Classic over host Incarnate Word (3-2). In 13 total sets on the weekend, Lauren Galvin paced the Tommies with 50 kills, 39 digs and five service aces with double-double totals in kills and digs in each match and a .207 hitting percentage on the weekend.
• North Dakota, South Dakota and Western Illinois suffered winless weekends.
• The Fighting Hawks were swept by Central Michigan and Youngstown State but were able to take two sets from Butler at the Central Michigan Tournament.
• The Coyotes lost in three to #12 Louisville and were able to take one set from Northern Kentucky and Missouri at the Cardinal Classic.
• Western Illinois suffered a 3-0 loss to Toledo but was able to take two sets from both IUPUI and Chattanooga at the Hampton Inn Invitational. Kennedy Davis was selected to the all-tournament team after tallying 22 kills, six service aces and 10 blocks in three matches.