SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – With two weeks to go in the regular season, the final two spots for the Summit League Championships will come down to the wire. South Dakota State, who are winners of three straight matches, sit sixth with a 7-7 league mark while Kansas City (5-9) and Oral Roberts (4-10) are fighting for a spot in the tournament.
South Dakota will be riding an 11-match winning streak when they face the Roos and Golden Eagles and are tied for the 13
th longest winning streak in the nation. Omaha sits second at 12-3 in league play and have won four matches in a row. North Dakota State sits comfortably at the third spot with an 11-3 ledger and defeated North Dakota (9-5, fifth in standings), in five sets. Denver is 10-5 and are fourth in the standings with three matches remaining under their belt.
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TEAM TRACKER
PIONEERS (16-10; 10-5 SL) | @DU_Volleyball
Next Up: at North Dakota (11/10; 6 p.m. MT); at North Dakota State (11/12; 12 p.m. MT)
Previous Matches: vs. Oral Roberts (W, 3-0); vs. Kansas City (L, 3-1)
Denver cruised to a home sweep of Oral Roberts as the Pioneers offense was paced by Hailey Green, who finished with 14 kills while accumulating a hitting percentage of .609 ... The second set against the Roos saw DU win 25-9 and opened its biggest lead of the stanza, 16 points, to finish off the set while hitting .478 over the course of the set ... Jordan Lockwood recorded her fourth double-double of the season against Kansas City with 13 kills and 15 digs while Green tallied a match-high 18 kills ... Denver will head north to face North Dakota and North Dakota State.
ROOS (8-19; 5-9 SL) | @KCRoosVB
Next Up: vs. South Dakota (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota State (11/12; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Omaha (L, 3-1); at Denver (W, 3-1)
Kansas City kept its hopes alive for a Summit League championship berth with an impressive four-set win over Denver ... Carly Gillen logged a career-high 13 kills on .706 hitting against the Pioneers and the Roos’ .316 hitting efficiency was a season-high and the second-best all season by a Denver opponent ... The Roos held the Pioneers, one of the best blocking teams in the country, without a block in the first set ... Kennedy Schritenthal dug up 20 attacks against Omaha, her sixth 20-dig showing of the season and ranks third in the league with 4.23 digs per set.
FIGHTING HAWKS (12-13; 9-5 SL) | @UNDVolleyball
Next Up: vs. Denver (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Omaha (11/12; 11 a.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. North Dakota State (L, 3-2)
Elizabeth Norris helped the Fighting Hawks go the distance against NDSU, contributing in every facet and notching her sixth triple-double performance on the year ... Norris had a team-high 12 kills, 19 assists, 12 digs and two blocking assists and is now second in triple-doubles in the nation with six, and is the only Summit League player to record a triple-double this season ... Kortney Carney paced the team defensively, putting down a team-high 19 digs while dishing out five assists and had a team-high two service aces ... The Fighting Hawks will host Denver and Omaha in two key matches that can shake up the league standings.
BISON (18-8; 11-3 SL) | @NDSUVolleyball
Next Up: vs. Omaha (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Denver (11/12; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at North Dakota (W, 3-2)
Ali Hinze connected on a match-high 19 kills with nine digs and six blocks while Ally Barth helped the Bison post a season-high 14 blocks in the win over North Dakota ... Barth also contributed a match-best eight blocks against the Fighting Hawks ... Kelley Johnson handed out a match-high 45 assists with 10 digs and three aces while Logan O’Brien added a team-best 13 digs on the defensive side ... NDSU stretched its lead in the fifth set 10 11-4 and won by final frame, 15-6 ... Michelle Glover continues to impress on the offensive side of the ball, hitting .391 overall, which ranks second in the league.
MAVERICKS (17-8; 12-3 SL) | @OmahaVB
Next Up: at North Dakota State (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); at North Dakota (11/12; 11 a.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Kansas City (W, 3-1); vs. Oral Roberts (W, 3-0)
McKenna Ruch led the Mavericks with 23 kills (3.29 kills per set) and a .308 hitting percentage in two wins last week ... Marriah Murdie had another impressive week on the defensive side of the ball as the senior totaled 11 blocks, including two solo blocks ... She tied her season-best with eight blocks against Oral Roberts and had 11 kills on offense ... With the two wins last week, Omaha clinched a spot in the Summit League Championships.
GOLDEN EAGLES (7-19; 4-10 SL) | @ORUVolleyball
Next Up: vs. South Dakota State (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota (11/12; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Denver (L, 3-0); at Omaha (L, 3-0)
Sakira LaCour registered 16 kills and a .438 attack percentage in two matches last week ... LaCour ranks in the top-ten in two categories in the League, as she is sixth with a .290 hitting percentage and fourth in blocks per game with 1.19 ... Natassia Baptiste led the Golden Eagles with eight blocks in two matches and leads the team with 58 total blocks ... The next four matches for ORU will be crucial to earn a spot in the Summit League Championships as they will begin by hosting South Dakota State and South Dakota, followed by two road matches against WIU and UST.
TOMMIES (3-24; 1-14 SL) | @TommieVBall
Next Up: vs. Western Illinois (11/12; 11 a.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at South Dakota State (L, 3-0); at South Dakota (L, 3-0)
St. Thomas wrapped up its road schedule with a pair of losses to South Dakota State and South Dakota ... Against the Jackrabbits, Lauren Galvin recorded a .212 hitting percentage while freshman Allie Kopp led the team with 12 assists ... Against the Coyotes, Galvin led the Tommies with 10 kills and added seven digs with two blocks ... Galvin ranks ninth in the league with 3.19 kills per set and seventh with 303 total kills.
COYOTES (24-2; 13-1 SL) | @SDCoyotesVB
Next Up: at Kansas City (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); at Oral Roberts (11/12; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Western Illinois (W, 3-0); vs. St. Thomas (W, 3-0)
Elizabeth Juhnke recorded match-high kills numbers in sweep of Western Illinois and St. Thomas, playing in all six sets with 5.33 kills per set ... She matched USD’s single-season program recorded with 557 kills (record was previously held by Kendall Kritenbrink in 2013) and continues to lead the nation in kills per set (5.41) ... Against the Leathernecks, Madi Woodin dished out a match-high 40 assists and had 10 digs for her third double-double in her third collegiate start ... The Coyotes won the third and final set against St. Thomas by an impressive 25-8 final.
JACKRABBITS (13-13; 7-7 SL) | @GoJacksVB
Next Up: at Oral Roberts (11/10; 7 p.m. CT); at Kansas City (11/12; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. St. Thomas (W, 3-0); vs. Western Illinois (W, 3-0)
After losing their previous five matches, South Dakota State is riding a three-match winning streak heading into the last two weeks of the regular season ... SDSU’s offense put together one of its best performances of the season in a sweep of St. Thomas, tallying 46 kills, the most in a sweep this year at a .365 hitting percentage, their second-best attack rate of the season ... Crystal Burk paced SDSU with 18 kills for a .571 hitting percentage and surpassed 1,500 kills in her career in the match, becoming the fifth Jackrabbit in program history to achieve the milestone ... Against Western Illinois, Raegen Reilly surpassed 1,000 assists on the season and now has 1,018 assists this season, ranking third in the program’s 25-point rally scoring era.
LEATHERNECKS (4-23; 0-15 SL) | @WIUVolleyball
Next Up: at St. Thomas (11/12; 11 a.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at South Dakota (L, 3-0); at South Dakota State (L, 3-0)
Western Illinois have officially been eliminated from contention in the Summit League Championships with a pair of losses against South Dakota and South Dakota State ... Brittany Wulf ranks in the top ten in a pair of categories in the league, as the sophomore outside hitter sits third with 0.42 service aces per set and 10th in the league with 3.13 kills per set ... She is fourth in total service aces at 36 and 11th in total kills at 269 ... The Leathernecks were able to score 24 points in the third and final set against South Dakota State as Wulf led the Leatherneck offense with 13 kills.
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