Bison Volleyball Travels to Kansas City and Oral Roberts

IN THIS WEEK

The North Dakota State volleyball team (15-7, 8-2 Summit) is back on the road in Kansas City (7-16, 4-6 Summit) Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Bison will then complete the journey on Saturday at Oral Roberts (7-15, 4-6 peaks). The first serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m

GAME COVER

The game against Kansas City will be available on Kcroos.com with live stats and streamed on Roos All-Access. The competition at Oral Roberts will also have live stats on ORUAthletics.com and will be streamed on ORUSN.

LAST TIME-OUT

NDSU rolled past St. Thomas 3-0 on Saturday. KellyJohnson hit her best 14th double-double of the season with a match-high of 40 assists and 11 digs. Ali Hinz posted her 10th double-double of the season with a best 16 kills and 11 digs.

OFFENSIVE PEAK PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
Ali Hinz helped the Bison to back-to-back victories over western Illinois and St. Thomas last week and was named the Summit League Offensive Peak Performer of the Week. She racked up 34 team-high kills and averaged a team best of 5.67 per set, along with a .400 batting average. A native of Maple Grove, Minnesota, it also included a total of 16 ditches and six blocks on the defensive end of the ground.

IN THE MIX

The Bison go into the week with Omaha (13-8, 8-3 Summit) for second place in Summit League standings. South Dakota (20-2, 9-1 Summit) is at the top and has won its last seven games. NDSU started conference play with a 5-0 record for the first time since 2010 before falling 3-2 against North Dakota.

HEAT TEST

The Bison lead the Summit League and rank 27th in the nation in batting average (.264). NDSU also ranks second in the conference and 29th in the nation with a total of 1,135 kills. The Bison have 60 or more kills in seven games, including a season-high 70 against Chicago State, Central Michigan and Austin Peay.

THE DYNAMIC DUO
Syra Tanchin and Ali Hinz have both surpassed the 200 kill mark this season. Tanchin ranks fourth in the Summit League with a team-high of 303 kills, while Hinze ranks fifth with 279 kills. NDSU is the only team in the conference with two different players in the top five.

BALL MOVEMENT

The Bison ranks second in the Summit League with 12.86 and 27th in the nation in assists per set. KellyJohnson progresses NDSU with a team-high 861 assists, which ranks second in the conference and 20th in the nation. She has conceded 50 or more assists in five games this season, including a career-high 58 against Chicago State and Central Michigan.

JOHNSON ENTERED THE TOP 10
KellyJohnson gave up a match-high 34 assists in the win against St. Thomas on Sept. 22 to plateau at 2,000 career assists. She now has 2,375 assists over four seasons and ranks 10th on the all-time list. Johnson is one of five players to have made the mark in the NDSU Division I era.

TANCHIN JOINS THE 1,000 KILL CLUB
Syra Tanchin tied with 23 kills against North Dakota to surpass 1,000 career kills mark. She has a total of 1,065 kills over four seasons and ranks 23rd on the all-time list. Tanchin is one of eight players to reach the mark in the NDSU Division I era.

ONE FACTOR ON BOTH ENDERS
Michelle Glover has registered a team-best batting average of .403, which ranks first in the Summit League and 19th in the nation. At 75.0, she also ranks eighth in total blocks in the Summit League.

WORK ON DEFENSE

The Bison are fifth in the Summit League with 1,273. NDSU had a season-high 98 points in a 3-2 win over Southeast Missouri State, with five players going into double figures. Ali Hinz led the Bison with a team-high 21 digs while Syra Tanchin contributed a career-high 20 digs. Ava Schmoll also posted a career-high 17 digs.

SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAYERS WATCH
Syra Tanchin and Ali Hinz have been added to the Summit League Players to Watch List. Hinze ranked fifth in the Summit League last season with a career-high 370 and kills per set at 3.43 kills. On the defensive end, Hinze contributed a career-best 291 digs and averaged 2.67 digs per set. Tanchin also posted a career-high 370 kills last season and averaged 3.36 kills per set, ranking seventh in the Summit League. The St. Michael, Minnesota native added a career-best 30 blocks with 83 digs on defense.

SUMMIT LEAGUE PRE-SEASON POLL

NDSU was selected to place seventh in the Summit League Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll. Denver earned the top spot with 75 total points and six first-place votes. South Dakota was second with 74 total points and Omaha rounded out the top three with 68 total points in third place.

HANDLE BUSINESS IN THE CLASSROOM

NDSU was awarded the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award in 2021-22 for the tenth straight year. The bison has also earned a spot on the AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll with a team GPA in the top 20 percent of the NCAA Division I. NDSU achieved a spring semester GPA of 3.56 and last year a cumulative GPA of 3.63.

NEW TO THE SQUAD

The Bison added five freshmen to the roster for 2022, including three freshmen: Bailey Randall, Nora Rasch and Alli Barth.

NDSU also added transmissions Eke Denessen and Logan O’Brien. Denessen spent the last two seasons in South Florida, appearing in 24 games from 13 starts in 2021. O’Brien appeared in 49 games and totaled 201 digs over two seasons in North Florida.

MUCH DEPTH IN THE LINEUP

NDSU enters 2022 with 10 players returning from last season, including four seniors: Syra Tanchin, Michelle Glover, Ava Schmoll and KellyJohnson. The Bison also boast plenty of four-player experience, having appeared in 60 or more career games. Glover has played in most career games among active Bison players with 72, including two seasons (46 games) at Illinois-Chicago.

THE SERIES VS. KANSAS CITY

This will be the 24th all-time meeting between NDSU and Kansas City, dating back to 1982, with the Bison leading the series 18-5. In their last meeting earlier this season, NDSU defeated Kansas City 3-0 KellyJohnson overall best 40 assists and 10 digs.

THE SERIES VS. ORAL ROBERTS

This will be the 35th all-time meeting between NDSU and Oral Roberts, dating back to 1982, with the Bison leading the series, 22-12. At their last meeting earlier this season Ali Hinz propelled the Bison to a 3-0 win over the Golden Eagles with 11 kills, seven digs and five career-high serve aces. Syra Tanchin also added in 11 kills with a hit percentage of .476.

NEXT UP

NDSU returns home Tuesday, Nov. 1 against South Dakota State. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.