ON TAP
North Dakota (11-12, 6-6 Big Sky) returns home to host Idaho State and Weber State this Thursday and Saturday, respectively. UND-- with eight matches remaining-- is currently tied for fifth in the Big Sky standings. Following this weekend, North Dakota has one final homestand in the regular season, hosting Portland State on Nov. 8 and Eastern Washington on Nov. 10.
SCOUTING THE BENGALS
(16-5, 10-2 Big Sky)
ISU lost just its second conference match of the season in its last outing, a 3-1 loss at the hands of Northern Arizona, who moved into a tie with ISU for second and within a game of first place in the Big Sky Conference standings ... Idaho State comes into the week as the top hitting team in the conference with a .245 team hitting percentage ... The Bengals have a pair of players in the top 10 in the league in kills (Tressa Lyman, 6th- 3.38 kills/set and Breanne Van Every, 10th- 3.09 k/s) ... Lori Mendenhall sets the pace in the Big Sky with her 11.31 assists per set average (UND’s Nikki Husfeldt is second at 10.96) ... ISU swept UND, 3-0, in the teams’ previous meeting on Sept. 22.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
(8-15, 2-10)
Conversely, WSU is ranked last in the Big Sky in hitting percentage, coming into the week with a .125 clip ... The Wildcats’ 585 attack errors this season are 93 more than any other league school ... Audrey Gee appears in the Big Sky leaders in blocks, averaging 1.13 per set good for sixth in the conference ... Laurel Bodily is ninth in the conference in digs with a 3.51 digs/set mark... WSU lost a tough five-set match to UND back on Sept. 20 ... In that match, Ronni Munkeby led a quartet of UND players with double-digit kills, finishing 16 balls for North Dakota’s first conference road win.
SATURDAY SYMPTOMS
North Dakota has endured seven of its losses this season on Saturdays, going 3-7 overall. UND has four Saturday matches remaining on the regular season schedule. All of the remaining Saturday opponents are currently on the outside looking in the Big Sky tournament seedings (Weber State, at Sacramento State, Eastern Washington, at Southern Utah).
RIGHT ON PAR-LICH
Junior Lisa Parlich recorded a pair of career milestones last week in the match at Montana State. With her 12 kills in the five-set loss at MSU, Parlich etched a new career mark (220) for kills in a season, nine better than her total from a season ago. Those dozen kills also helped her surpass the 500 mark in her career, giving her 510 in her 74 career matches played.
600 CLUB
Junior Ronni Munkeby also surpassed a career milestone last week, registering her 600th career kill. Munkeby’s .287 hitting percentage for her career makes her the active leader in that category (min. 10 kills).
YOU BETTY RECOGNIZE
North Dakota is 64-33 (.660) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004 season. Since 2008, UND is a staggering 42-7 (.857) including a school-record 13 wins a season ago.
UND ON TV
Midco Sports Network will televise three UND volleyball games as part of its broadcast deal that includes football, men’s hockey, women’s hockey, men’s basketball and women’s basketball. The first televised volleyball game comes on Sept. 13 when UND hosts new Big Sky foe Montana State. BSC defending champion Northern Colorado visits BESC on Oct. 1 and Portland State rounds out the TV schedule on Nov. 8. Check MidcoSports.com for channel availability in your area.
BIG SKY TV
All UND home matches and every Big Sky road match will be available via free video webcast through Big Sky TV. Go to UNDSports.com for more details.
