SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – And just like that, league play is here. The opening day of league competition will feature four matches all on the Summit League Network. St. Thomas will host South Dakota State, Oral Roberts will take on North Dakota State in Tulsa, North Dakota heads to Denver to take on the Pioneers and Omaha will face Kansas City in the Cornhusker State.
 
The Roos remain atop the standings with a 9-3 record, while the Bison are close behind at 8-3. The Coyotes, who are winners of five straight matches, will look to repeat at regular season champions and are 6-5 overall.

TEAM TRACKER
DENVER PIONEERS (1-7; 0-0 SL) | @DU_Volleyball
Next Up: vs. North Dakota (9/21; 6 p.m. MT); vs. North Dakota State (9/23; 1 p.m. MT)
Previous Matches: vs. Idaho State (W, 3-0); at Colorado (L, 3-1)
Briley Decker combined for 72 assists and two aces in a pair of matches last week ... Defensive specialist Gianna Bartalo notched 26 combined digs, including 17 in a win against Idaho State ... Against the Bengals, the Pioneers’ first win of the season, Cadi Boyer posted a career-high six aces, while Cassie Davis registered a match-high 10 kills ... Entering league play, Davis ranks fourth with 3.27 kills per set, while Davis and Boyer sit tied for third with 0.38 aces per set.
 
KANSAS CITY ROOS (9-3; 0-0 SL) | @KCRoosVB
Next Up: at Omaha (9/21; 7 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota State (9/23; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Southeast Missouri State (L, 3-2); vs. Austin Peay (W, 3-1); vs. Saint Louis (L, 3-2)
Kansas City enters league play ranked first in the league with a 9-3 ledger ... The Roos hosted the KC Roos Klassic where they went 1-2 overall ... In a five-set loss to Southeast Missouri State, Odyssey Warren posted a career-high 26 kills with a .264 hitting percentage ... She hit .271 overall in three matched last week and garnered 64 total kills ... Kimora Whetstone went for 11 kills with a .529 clip and notched six total blocks against Austin Peay ... Warren’s 156 total kills sit atop the league charts and her 3.32 kills per set ranks third overall ... Sydney Henry’s 484 total assists sit 10th in the nation.
 
NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (3-9; 0-0 SL) | @UNDvolleyball
Next Up: at Denver (9/21; 7 p.m. CT); at Oral Roberts (9/23; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Northern Iowa (L, 3-0); vs. Northern Illinois (L, 3-0); vs. No. 25 Dayton (L, 3-0)
The Fighting Hawks capped off its non-conference schedule at the Northern Iowa Tournament with a trio of losses and rank fifth in the league standings ... Kaycee O’Dell led UND against Northern Illinois with a career-high 14 kills and assisted with a block that gave her 100 for her career ... Teagan Timperley recorded her 11th straight match with double-digit assists with 13 against the Flyers ... Paige Barber sits 12th in the league with 2.60 kills per set, while Timperley ranks fifth with 0.33 services aces per set.
 
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (8-3; 0-0 SL) | @NDSUvolleyball
Next Up: at Oral Roberts (9/21; 7 p.m. CT); at Denver (9/23; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Robert Morris (W, 3-0); at West Virginia (L, 3-0); vs. Old Dominion (W, 3-2)
The Bison went 2-1 in the Mountaineer Invitational where they defeated Robert Morris and Old Dominion ... Against the Colonials, Ali Hinze logged a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs to go along with a season-high four total blocks ... Kelley Johnson, the TicketSmarter Summit League Volleyball Offensive Peak Performer of the Week, handed out a match-high 30 assists with six digs ... In a match that saw 31 score ties and nine lead changes against the Monarchs, Johnson narrowly missed a triple-double after totaling a season-high 57 assists with 11 digs and career-best seven kills ... It marked her second match this season with at least 50 assists ... Johnson’s 10.02 assists per set ranks second in the league, while Hinze’s 137 kills is fifth in the league.
 
OMAHA MAVERICKS (1-9; 0-0 SL) | @OmahaVB
Next Up: vs. Kansas City (9/21; 7 p.m. CT); vs. South Dakota (9/23; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Northern Colorado (L, 3-2); vs. Wichita State (L, 3-2); vs. Bradley (W, 3-0)
The Mavericks picked up their first win of the season with a sweep over Bradley at the Northern Colorado Classic ... Against the Braves, Shayla McCormick recorded a team-high 12 kills, the first time she recorded double-digit kills since opening day ... She is now just seven kills away from reaching 700 in her career ... Olivia Curry had her third double-double of the season with 15 assists and 11 digs ... McKenna Ruch led team with 35 kills, a .314 hitting percentage and 52 points in the three matches ... Ruch also registered five service aces and is seventh in the league with 12 total services aces this season ... The senior middle blocker also led Omaha with 21 total blocks (1.62 per set), including three solo blocks last weekend.
 
ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (2-10; 0-0 SL) | @ORUVolleyball
Next Up: vs. North Dakota State (9/21; 7 p.m. CT); vs. North Dakota (9/23; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. UTSA (L, 3-0); at Incarnate Word (L, 3-1)
Trinity Freeman continues to be a force for the Golden Eagles as the junior racked up 43 kills (4.30 per set) and 23 digs at the UIW Cardinal Classic ... The junior racked 11 kills against UTSA before setting a career-high 21 at Incarnate Word ... Against the Cardinals, Freeman logged a .340 attack percentage and totaled 12 digs for her third double-double of the year ... Breanna Rivas scooped up 34 digs on the weekend, including a career-high 26 against Incarnate Word ... Freeman sits first in the league with 145 total kills ... Oral Roberts open its season at the Mabee Center where they will host NDSU and UND.
 
ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (4-7; 0-0 SL) | @Tommievball
Next Up: vs. South Dakota State (9/21; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Central Michigan (W, 3-0); vs. Illinois State (L, 3-0)
St. Thomas went 1-1 overall at the Capital Credit Union Classic where they swept Central Michigan and fell to Illinois State in straight sets ... Against the Chippewas, Morgan Kealy recorded 36 of the teams total 38 assists, putting her over 300 assists in just 10 matches ... Senior outside hitter Claire Ricard led the team with career-highs in total points (12.5) and kills (11) while adding three block assists ... Ella Voegele was named to the Capital Credit Union Classic All-Tournament team where the sophomore defensive specialist led the Tommies with 3.5 digs per set ... Voegele’s 4.10 digs per set sits her second in the league.
 
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (6-5; 0-0 SL) | @SDCoyotesVB
Next Up: at Omaha (9/23; 7 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: at Green Bay (W, 3-2); vs. Illinois State (W, 3-1); vs. Central Michigan (W, 3-0)
For the second straight week, Madison Harms was named to an All-Tournament team, this time collecting the Capital Credit Union Classic MVP after leading South Dakota to a 3-0 weekend where she totaled 43 kills for an average of 3.58 kills per set and 4.08 points per set ... The senior middle blocker had just nine errors on 80 attempts to hit .425 on the weekend ... Furthermore, Harms posted double-digit kills in all three matches and hit above .300 in every match, including a weekend-high .467 clip in USD’s 3-2 win over Green Bay ... Brynn Paumen, who was named the TicketSmarter #SummitVB Defensive Peak Performer of the Week, averaged 1.08 blocks per set, totaling 13 blocks ... Freshman Avery Van Hook, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, had 37 assists, six digs, three block assists and two kills ... Harms leads the league with a .362 hitting percentage and sits second with 52 total blocks.

SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (2-10; 0-0 SL) | @GoJacksVB
Next Up: at St. Thomas (9/21; 7 p.m. CT); at Kansas City (9/23; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Matches: vs. Montanan (L, 3-0); at Boise State (L, 3-0); vs. Loyola Marymount (L, 3-0)
The Jackrabbits will look to snap its five-match losing streak when they head to St. Thomas and Kansas City to open league competition ... At the Boise State Classic, Sylvie Zgonc tallied 36 kills and notched a .280 hitting percentage ... On the defensive side of the ball, Stella Winterfeld posted 39 digs and averaged 3.9 digs per set ... In a four-set loss to Montana, Zgonc set a new career high of 17 kills to go with four digs, two assists and an ace ... Zgonc was joined in double figures by Masa Scheierman with 12 kills and Katie Van Egdom with 11 ... Zgonc sits fourth in the league with 138 kills entering league play this week.
 
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