SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – We have officially made it to the league season, and there will be plenty of exciting matches during the opening week of league play. South Dakota, who are winners of their last 11 matches, are atop the standings during non-league action and they will host Omaha and Denver in what will be highly anticipated matches to keep an eye out for.
North Dakota State, who finished the non-league campaign second in the standings at 7-5, travel to St. Thomas and Western Illinois followed by a home match on Tuesday against the Coyotes. Denver are winners of three straight matches and will look to carry their momentum beginning with a road trip to South Dakota State on Thursday.
TEAM TRACKER
PIONEERS (6-5; 0-0- SL) | @DU_Volleyball
Next Up: at South Dakota State (9/22; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota (9/24; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Air Force (W, 3-0), vs. San Francisco (W, 3-1), vs. UC San Diego (W, 3-0)
Denver captured the Thin Air Challenge title with a trio of wins against Air Force, San Francisco and UC San Diego ... Sophomore outside hitter Hailey Green recorded two matches in double figures and had a team-best 14 kills in a sweep of the Tritons ... Jordan Lockwood finished with a match-high 13 kills against the Falcons, while Gianna Bartalo notched a team-high nine digs ... Hailey Green has been a force this season as she ranks fifth in the league in assists (360) and 10th in points per match (3.50).
ROOS (3-10; 0-0 SL) | @KCRoosVB
Next Up: at Oral Roberts (9/24; 1 p.m. CT); vs. Western Illinois (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Kansas State (L, 3-0), vs. Missouri State (L, 3-1), vs. Iowa State (L, 3-2), at Saint Louis (L, 3-2)
Kansas City’s last two matches resulted in 3-2 losses to Iowa State and Saint Louis to end regular season play ... Against the Billikens, the Roos came back down 2-0, but fell 17-15 in the fifth set ... Odyssey Warren carried the Kansas City offense, sending across a career-high 21 kills and hitting a .413 clip ... She led the KC attack in three of their four matches, while Kimora Whetstone logged 18 blocks across 14 sets of play and recorded seven digs.
FIGHTING HAWKS (3-8; 0-0 SL) | @UNDVolleyball
Next Up: at Western Illinois (9/22; 6 p.m. CT); at St. Thomas (9/24; 12 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota State (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Green Bay (L, 3-0), vs. SIUE (L, 3-2), vs. Drake (W, 3-2)
Ashlyn Olson was named to the Green Bay Invite All-Tournament team after leading the Fighting Hawks wxith 45 kills and earned a career-high 17 kills against SIUE and matched it with 17 more against Drake ... UND snapped its five-match losing streak with a five-set win against Drake ... Izzy McCormick tallied 47 digs and led the defense with a career-high 22 digs in the five set victory against the Bulldogs ... North Dakota opens league play with a road trip to Western Illinois and St. Thomas.
BISON (7-5; 0-0 SL) | @NDSUVolleyball
Next Up: at St. Thomas (9/22; 7 p.m. CT); at Western Illinois (9/24; 11 a.m. CT); vs. South Dakota (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Austin Peay (L, 3-1), vs. UT Martin (W, 3-0), vs. East Tennessee State (L, 3-0)
Senior outside hitter Syra Tanchin led the Bison with a team-high 37 kills at the Stacheville Challenge ... She connected on a season-high 23 kills with a .367 hitting percentage against Austin Peay and it marked her third 20-kill performance of the season ... Tanchin ranks third in the league in total kills with 157 and added 14 digs and three blocks on the defensive end ... Logan O’Brien totaled a team-high 49 digs on the weekend and has reached double digit digs in each of her last five matches.
MAVERICKS (5-5; 0-0 SL) | @OmahaVB
Next Up: at South Dakota (9/22; 7 p.m. CT); at South Dakota State (9/24; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. UCF (L, 3-2), vs. Lipscomb (W, 3-0), at No. 23 Kansas (L, 3-1)
Omaha went 1-2 in the Jayhawk Classic and after a close five-set loss to UCF, the Mavericks swept Lipscomb as Shayla McCormick led all players in kills (12) and digs (15) ... In three matches, McCormick ranked third among all players in Lawrence, Kan., in kills with 37 while her .389 attack percentage ranked third among all players with at least 20 kills ... McKenna Ruch led all players in the tournament with 20 blocks and her 18 block assists were the most as well.
GOLDEN EAGLES (3-9; 0-0 SL) | @ORUVolleyball
Next Up: vs. Kansas City (9/24; 1 p.m. CT), vs. St. Thomas (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. UTRGV (L, 3-1), at Texas Tech (W, 3-1), vs. Arizona State (L, 3-1)
The Golden Eagles snapped its seven-match losing streak with a four-set win over Texas Tech and the road victory marked ORU’s first over a Power 5 opponent since 2014 when they defeated Arkansas in five sets ... Kaia Dunford and Kalena Vaivai led the match with double-doubles as Dunford posted 13 kills and a match-high 19 digs, while Vaivai dished out 34 assists and scooped up 14 Texas Tech attacks ... Sakira LaCour put on another dominant performance at the net over the weekend as the senior racked up 17 blocks and against UTRGV, she registered a career-high four blocks along with the game-winning block against the Red Raiders.
TOMMIES (2-10; 0-0 SL) | @TommieVBall
Next Up: vs. North Dakota State (9/22, 7 p.m. CT), vs. North Dakota (9/24; 12 p.m. CT), vs. Oral Roberts (9/27, 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Western Michigan (L, 3-0), vs. IUPUI (L, 3-1), at Bradley (L, 3-2)
Allie Kopp recorded a career-high 29 assists in back-to-back matches at the Bradley Classic ... She totaled 71 assists and averaged 5.91 per set ... St. Thomas forced Bradley to a five-set match but fell short during the finale of the tournament ... Lauren Galvin set a season-high in kills (19) to lead the Tommies and added 10 digs for her second double-double of the season ... UST begin their home slate of matches when they open league play against North Dakota State and North Dakota.
COYOTES (11-1; 0-0 SL) | @SDCoyotesVB
Next Up vs. Omaha (9/22; 7 p.m. CT), vs. Denver (9/24; 4:45 p.m. CT), at North Dakota State (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Stetson (W, 3-1), vs. Cornell (W, 3-0), at South Florida (W, 3-0)
USD’s 11-match winning streak is tied for third in the nation as they went 3-0 in the Bulls Invitational ... Elizabeth Juhnke enters league play ranking in the top of league in kills (235) kills per set (5.00) and she tallied a match-high 18 kills along with nine digs and three blocks while hitting .516 against South Florida ... Lolo Weideman had a solid week on defense after she averaged 5.70 digs per set including a match-high 21 digs in a 3-1 win over Stetson ... USD will look to start 3-0 in league play for the fifth straight season as they open up at home with matches against Omaha and Denver before traveling to North Dakota State on Tuesday.
JACKRABBITS (6-6; 0-0 SL) | @GoJacksVB
Next Up: vs. Denver (9/22; 7 p.m. CT); vs. Omaha (9/24; 1 p.m. CT); at North Dakota (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Iowa (L, 3-0), vs. Northern Iowa (L, 3-1), vs. North Florida (L, 3-2)
Crystal Burk earned Hawkeye Invitational All-Tournament honors after she averaged 4.75 kills per set ... She moved into sole possession of eighth place on SDSU’s career kills list as she registered 57 over the weekend ... Jadyn Makovicka notched the 1,000th dig of her collegiate career while leading the Jackrabbit defense with 4.2 digs per set ... The Jackrabbits will look to move above .500 when they open league action with a pair of home matches against Denver and Omaha followed by a trip up to North Dakota.
LEATHERNECKS (4-8; 0-0 SL) | @WIUVolleyball
Next Up: vs. North Dakota (9/22; 6 p.m. CT); vs. North Dakota State (9/24; 11 a.m. CT); at Kansas City (9/27; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Drake (L, 3-0), at Green Bay (L, 3-0)
Western Illinois were swept in both of their matches to Drake and Green Bay at the Green Bay Invite ... Brittany Wulf led the Leathernecks with 20 kills over the two matches, while Maggie Craker led the team with 29 assists and Jessie Connell had 20 of her own ... Craker also led WIU with 25 digs and the Leathernecks had eight blocks and four service aces ... WIU will play in Macomb for the first time this season as league play opens up and they will take on UND and NDSU.
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