SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The top six teams have punched their tickets to next week’s Summit League Volleyball Championship in Omaha, Neb. South Dakota captured their third #SummitVB regular season title in program history and will host next year’s championships. South Dakota State and North Dakota will be fighting for the No. 5 seed while Omaha, Denver and North Dakota State are all vying to capture a bye week into the semifinals.
The Coyotes have captured their second 13-match winning streak of the season and have the 12
th longest winning streak in the nation and sit at 26-2 overall with a 15-1 League mark. The Jackrabbit have been one of the hottest teams in the past couple of weeks having won five straight matches after previously losing five straight.
Denver picked up some clutch road wins at North Dakota and North Dakota State, and will play a key match with the Mavericks that can shake up the seeds.
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TEAM TRACKER
PIONEERS (18-10; 12-5 SL) | @DU_Volleyball
Next Up: at Omaha (11/19; 12:30 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at North Dakota (W, 3-0); at North Dakota State (W, 3-2)
The Pioneers clinched a spot in the Summit League Volleyball Championship with a pair of road wins and will appear in the postseason event for the 10th consecutive time since joining the League in 2013 ... Hailey Green had an impressive weekend as the sophomore outside hitter tallied 27 kills and hit .288 in wins over North Dakota and NDSU ... Jordan Lockwood recorded her sixth consecutive double-double with 11 kills and 14 digs in the five-set win over the Bison, which was the Pioneers’ sixth straight road win ... Denver continues to rank among the best in the nation in total blocks, holding down second nationally with 291.5.
ROOS (8-21; 5-11 SL) | @KCRoosVB
Next Up: at St. Thomas (11/17; 7 p.m. CT); at Western Illinois (11/19; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. South Dakota (L, 3-0); vs. South Dakota State (L, 3-2)
After being swept by South Dakota, the Roos fell to South Dakota State in a five-set thriller in which they dropped the first two sets, but battled back to force five ... In the match, Odyssey Warren’s 19 kills marked her 20th match of the season in double-digits ... After tallying just 16 kills in the first two sets combined, the Roos notched 19 kills each in the third and fourth sets ... Kennedy Schritenthal ranks third in the league with 4.21 digs per set and she went for 20 digs against the Jackrabbits, her seventh time reaching the 20-dig mark this year and the third time in the last six matches.
FIGHTING HAWKS (12-15; 9-7 SL) | @UNDVolleyball
Next Up: at South Dakota State (11/17; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota (11/19; 4:45 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Denver (L, 3-0); vs. Omaha (L, 3-0)
North Dakota dropped a pair of matches to Denver and Omaha last week, but with some help from other league members last weekend, the Fighting Hawks earned a spot in next week’s championships for the first time since they joined the league in 2018 ... UND’s match against Denver stopped a streak of five straight matches going the distance ... Marissa Stockman is having a solid season and ranks 12th in the league with a 2.59 hitting percentage ... Stockman sits seventh in the league averaging 1.00 blocks per match.
BISON (19-9; 12-4 SL) | @NDSUVolleyball
Next Up: at South Dakota (11/17; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota State (11/19; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Omaha (W, 3-2); vs. Denver (L, 3-2)
Syra Tanchin helped NDSU to a split over the weekend and totaled 35 kills (3.50 kills per set) while registering a .300 hitting percentage ... She added 22 digs (2.20 digs per set) and connected on 16 kills with a .471 hitting percentage in the win over Omaha ... Tanchin notched her 10th double-double of the season with 19 kills and 14 digs against Denver ... Michelle Artis totaled a team-high 12 blocks including a career-high nine blocks with 13 kills against the Pioneers ... The Bison will be vying for a bye into the semifinals of the championships next week with a pair of matches against South Dakota and South Dakota State.
MAVERICKS (18-9; 13-4 SL) | @OmahaVB
Next Up: vs. Denver (11/19; 12:30 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at North Dakota State (L, 3-2); at North Dakota (W, 3-0)
McKenna Ruch continues to lead the Mavericks as the junior middle blocker garnered 27 kills (3.38 kills per set) and posted a team-high .556 hitting percentage last week ... She hit above .500 in both matches, including a .586 mark with 18 kills against North Dakota State ... In a sweep of North Dakota, Sami Clarkson ended the match with 21 assists and only needed eight to reach third all-time in program history (4,116) ... Omaha will need to win their match against Denver this week if they want a shot at receiving a bye into the semifinals of the championships.
GOLDEN EAGLES (7-21; 4-12 SL) | @ORUVolleyball
Next Up: at Western Illinois (11/17; 6 p.m. CT); at St. Thomas (11/19; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. South Dakota State (L, 3-0); vs. South Dakota (L, 3-1)
After making last year’s Summit League Championships, the Golden Eagles have been eliminated from contention into next week’s tournament ... ORU lost both matches last week and were paced by Trinity Freeman’s 11 kills in both matches against SDSU and USD ... Breanna Rivas tallied 29 digs, including a match-high 18 digs against the Jackrabbits ... ORU won the first set against USD, 25-23, with Freeman and Jeslyn Spenver registering double-digit kills.
TOMMIES (4-24; 2-14 SL) | @TommieVBall
Next Up: vs. Kansas City (11/17; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Oral Roberts (11/19; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Western Illinois (W, 3-0)
St. Thomas defeated Western Illinois for the second time this season and were led by Tezra Rudztis’ fifth double-digit kill match with 10 overall ... She hit .370 offensively and added one aces while chipping in six digs and three blocks ... Emma Goerger totaled eight kills and a team-high four blocks while Lauren Galvin finished with seven kills and 14 digs ... The Tommies went on a 7-0 run in the third set and ended the match with five of the final seven points. UST wraps up their season with home matches against Kansas City and Oral Roberts.
COYOTES (26-2; 15-1 SL) | @SDCoyotesVB
Next Up: vs. North Dakota State (11/17; 7 p.m. CT); vs. North Dakota (11/19; 4:45 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Kansas City (W, 3-0); at Oral Roberts (W, 3-1)
South Dakota notched their 12th and 13th straight wins last weekend and in doing so, they clinched their third regular season title and will be the number one seed in the Summit League tournament next week ... Juhnke registered a match-high 21 kills and 19 digs on a night she broke the program record for kills in a season and in a sweep of Kansas City ... Against Oral Roberts, USD had four players with double-digit kills for the first time this season as Aimee Adams, Evelyn Diederich and Madison Harms each recorded 11 kills apiece in the four-set victory ... Harms also tallied four blocks as she reached 500 career blocks, becoming just the fifth player in league history to achieve the 500 block mark.
JACKRABBITS (15-13; 9-7 SL) | @GoJacksVB
Next Up: vs. North Dakota (11/17; 7 p.m. CT); vs. North Dakota State (11/19; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Oral Roberts (W, 3-0); at Kansas City (W, 3-2)
After losing their previous five matches, South Dakota State picked up its fifth straight win and clinched a spot in the Summit League postseason for the second straight season and the fourth time in program history ... Prior to last season, SDSU had not been to the tournament since 2010 ... Crystal Burk led the Jackrabbits with 39 kills, including a match high 21 kills against the Roos ... Burk also had a match-high 18 kills in a sweep of the Golden Eagles and ranks third in the nation with 497 kills this season.
LEATHERNECKS (4-24; 0-16 SL) | @WIUVolleyball
Next Up: vs. Oral Roberts (11/17; 6 p.m. CT); vs. Kansas City (11/19; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at St. Thomas (L, 3-0)
Hailey Sperling posted a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs in a loss to St. Thomas ... Brittany Wulf contributed with 11 kills and seven digs while Karli Wenzel led the Leathernecks with 15 digs ... Wulf is averaging the third-most service aces per set by league players at 0.42 and sits fourth with 37 service aces ... Western Illinois will wrap up their season with a pair of home matches against Oral Roberts and Kansas City.
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