THIS WEEK: The North Dakota State women’s volleyball team plays its final regular-season home match this week when the Summit League champion Bison (19-3, 15-0) host fifth-place South Dakota State (9-15, 8-7) on Saturday, Nov. 7. Match time is 7 p.m. at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse (1,206) in Fargo. The first 300 fans in attendance will receive a free T-shirt courtesy of Qdoba Mexican Grill. Live stats and live video will be available on GoBison.com.

TICKETS & PARKING: Tickets for North Dakota State home volleyball matches are available in advance at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office, online at GoBison.com/tickets, or by telephone toll free at (888) 231-NDSU. General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth ages 17 and under. Game day tickets are sold at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. Doors open 1 hour prior to the match. Free parking after 4:30 p.m. is available in the CF and SF lots adjacent to the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, Vistors Lot E, and the RF lot south of the Bison Sports Arena.  Click here for a map.

THE SERIES: This will be the 79th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota State dating back to 1974. North Dakota State has a 61-17 lead in the series including four straight wins overall and three straight in Fargo. The Bison won 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-17 in the teams’ first meeting Oct. 10 in Brookings. Middle hitter Chrissy Knuth hit .520 with 16 kills and five blocks, outside hitter Brooke VandenBergh had 14 kills and 16 digs, and libero Kelly Lopez made 25 digs.

ABOUT SOUTH DAKOTA STATE: The Jackrabbits are 9-15 overall and 8-7 for fifth place in The Summit League, one match behind fourth-place IUPUI and only a match-and-a-half behind second-place teams Oakland and IPFW. South Dakota State has won three straight league matches including a 3-1 win over Southern Utah and a 3-0 win over UMKC last weekend. Sophomore outside hitter Ellyce Youngren is the team’s active leader in kills (26) and kills per set (3.02), freshman setter Thyele Rechatiko and junior setter Nicole Peters both average over six assists per set, and senior libero Stacey Wernert leads the Jackrabbit defense with 4.09 digs per set. Head coach Nana Allison-Brewer (New Mexico, 2000) has a 19-32 record in her second season at SDSU.

BISON CLINCH SUMMIT LEAGUE TITLE: North Dakota State clinched the Summit League women’s volleyball regular-season championship with a 25-17, 25-9, 25-17 sweep of UMKC on Friday, Oct. 30. NDSU clinched because second-place Oakland lost in three sets at IPFW and fell to five matches back with four left to play. North Dakota State will be the No. 1 seed for The Summit League Tournament presented by Doublewood Inn on Nov. 20-21 at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse in Fargo.

BISON TIE LEAGUE MARK FOR CONSECUTIVE WINS: North Dakota State’s current 34-match Summit League regular-season winning streak is tied for the longest in league history. Northern Illinois won all 34 matches it played as a member of the Mid-Continent Conference with a 16-0 record in 1992 and an 18-0 record in 1993. Oral Roberts holds the third longest streak with 29 straight victories from 1997 to 1999. Former member Valparaiso is the only other school to win more than 20 straight matches in league play. The Crusaders won 21 straight from 2003 to 2005.

BISON ON THE ATTACK: North Dakota State continues to lead the Summit League stats in team hitting percentage for the eighth straight week with a .258 mark through 15 league matches. On the flip side, NDSU leads the league in lowest opponent hitting percentage for the seventh straight week at .118. The Bison held UMKC to .028 hitting Friday and Southern Utah to .092 hitting Saturday. NDSU has outhit its opponents in 18 of 22 matches and nine in a row. Only Florida State (.214), Northern Colorado (.199), Miami (.216) and BYU (.185) have outhit NDSU this season, and the Bison went 1-3 in those matches.

JOKI NAMED OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: North Dakota State outside hitter Brynn Joki was named Summit League women’s volleyball Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, Nov. 2. Joki hit .633 with zero attacking errors and averaged 3.17 kills per set in North Dakota State’s 3-0 victories over UMKC and Southern Utah last week. She hit .625 with 10 kills, five digs, two blocks and a career-high two service aces in the win over UMKC. She had a career-high .643 hitting percentage with nine kills, seven digs and three blocks against Southern Utah. It was the seventh Player of the Week award for NDSU this year. Chrissy Knuth has been Offensive Player of the Week three times, Lauren McLaughlin has been named once, and Kelly Lopez has two Defensive Player of the Week awards.

BISON CRACK TOP 10 IN NCAA STATS: North Dakota State is in the top 10 for the second straight week and is one of five Summit League teams in the top 50 nationally in digs per set in the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball statistics through Sunday, Nov. 1. IUPUI is fifth with 18.27 digs per set and North Dakota State is 10th with 17.83 digs per set. UMKC ranks 21st, IPFW is 40th and Oral Roberts is 44th. Individually, NDSU senior Kelly Lopez is 38th with 4.88 digs per set and sophomore Chrissy Knuth is 21st with a .383 hitting percentage.

BISON 43rd in FOURTH NCAA RPI LISTING: North Dakota State was ranked 43rd in the fourth Division I RPI listing released by the NCAA through matches of Sunday, Nov. 1. The Bison fell five spots from their highest ranking of 38th despite 3-0 wins over UMKC and Southern Utah. NDSU debuted at No. 63 in the first RPI report on Oct. 12 and was 47th and 38th in subsequent weeks. Three Bison opponents are in the most recent top 100 with Florida State ranked third, Miami ranked 47th, and Central Michigan 96th. Northern Colorado is 103rd and BYU is 104th. Oakland was second in The Summit League at No. 126 and IPFW was third at No. 140.

DIG FOR THE CURE RAISES $2,170: North Dakota State’s "Dig For The Cure" volleyball match on Friday, Oct. 16, against Oakland raised $2,170 for the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research. Fans made one-time donations or pledged an amount for every dig the Bison volleyball team made (76). Sandella’s Flatbread Cafe donated a percentage of sales at the match and Bison Illustrated donated a percentage of sales from October’s magazine. A crowd of 1,746 was on hand for NDSU’s 3-0 victory.

SUMMIT LEAGUE TICKETS ON SALE: Tickets for The Summit League Tournament presented by Doublewood Inn are on sale at the Bison Sports Arena ticket office and GoBison.com/tickets. Prices are $8 for adults, $5 for NDSU students with a valid ID, and $5 for youth ages 17 and under. For group tickets or more information, call the Bison Ticket Office toll free at (888) 231-NDSU. The top four teams from the regular season advance to the tournament, which will be played at NDSU’s Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse. The winner automatically qualifies for the 64-team NCAA Division I tournament. Semifinals are at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, and the championship match is at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. North Dakota State University is the defending Summit League regular-season and tournament champion.

STANDING ROOM ONLY: A standing-room-only crowd of 1,746 packed the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse to watch North Dakota State beat Oakland 3-0 on "Dig For The Cure" night Friday, Oct. 16. It was the second largest crowd in school history, passing the mark of 1,579 set in the home opener against Oral Roberts on Friday, Sept. 11. The NDSU single-match attendance record is 2,259 set against Minnesota State Moorhead in November 1986. Current seating capacity at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse is 1,206.

ATTENDANCE RANKED 31st NATIONALLY: North Dakota State’s average attendance of 1,236 through the first eight home matches ranked 31st in nation through Sunday, Nov. 1, according to unofficial NCAA Division I attendance figures compiled by the University of Wisconsin. NDSU has drawn more than a thousand fans to 13 of its last 15 matches dating back to Sept. 27, 2008. North Dakota State ranked 42nd in 2008 with an average home attendance of 970, and the Bison were 45th in 2007 with an average crowd of 852.

HOME SWEET HOME: North Dakota State plays its home volleyball matches on campus at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse, where the Bison have an 18-match winning streak and have won 30 of 33 home matches since 2006. The Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse will host the Summit League tournament Nov. 20-21. The completely renovated facility seats 1,206 fans in new chairback seats. NDSU has a 318-56 record at the BBF since 1978.

KNUTH MAKES RED-HOT START: Reigning Summit League Player of the Year Chrissy Knuth got off to a hot start at the Florida State Invitational on opening weekend. Knuth connected for 28 kills in the first two-plus matches before finally committing an attacking error in the first set against Florida State. Knuth had match highs of nine kills and three blocks against Central Michigan, and match highs of 17 kills and seven blocks against Florida A&M.

HITTING PERCENTAGE RECORDS NEARLY BROKEN: Two school records nearly fell in North Dakota State’s 25-9, 25-10, 26-24 sweep of Florida A&M on Friday, Aug. 28. North Dakota State committed only four attacking errors and its .529 team hitting percentage was second best in school history behind the 22-year-old school record of .540 set against Augustana in 1987. Middle hitter Chrissy Knuth led the Bison with 17 kills and 0 errors in 23 attacks for a .739 hitting percentage that also ranked second in school history behind the .762 set by Chloe Quirk against Florida Tech in 2003.

BISON RETURN FIVE STARTERS: North Dakota State returns nine letterwinners including five starters and the libero from last year’s 24-4 team that won The Summit League with a 16-0 record and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Leading returners include middle hitter Chrissy Knuth, the Summit League Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, and senior outside hitter Kelly Lopez, who was Summit League Defensive Player of the Year as NDSU’s libero last season. Other returning starters include sophomore setter Jennifer Lopez and junior outside hitter Brooke VandenBergh, who were both named to the All-Summit League team last year. NDSU also returns senior setter Mattie Johnson, the Summit League Setter of the Year in 2007, and Summit League All-Freshman middle hitter Janna Deyle.

BISON UNANIMOUS NO. 1 IN PRESEASON POLL: North Dakota State was picked to win The Summit League in a preseason poll of the league’s 10 head coaches. NDSU collected all nine possible first-place votes for 81 points, IPFW was second with 70 points, Oral Roberts (64) was third, IUPUI (55) fourth and South Dakota State (51) fifth. The top four teams from the regular season advance to the Summit League tournament Nov. 20-21 at North Dakota State.

RECRUITING CLASS 30TH IN NATION: North Dakota State’s freshman recruiting class was ranked 30th in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com in June. North Dakota State’s four freshmen are middle hitter Megan Lambertson from Litchfield, Minn., outside hitter/setter Brynn Joki of Grand Rapids, Minn., defensive specialist Andrea Henning of Jackson, Wis., and setter Leah Johnson of Lakeville, Minn. Only first-year freshmen are acknowledged in the annual rankings. Transfers and foreign players are excluded.

THE COACH: Erich Hinterstocker is in his fourth year as head coach at North Dakota State with an 80-28 record. Hired in May 2006, Hinterstocker inherited a program that went 5-31 prior to his arrival and made the third-best turnaround in the country to finish 17-13 in his first year. He has posted consecutive 20-win seasons and led NDSU to its first NCAA Division I tournament in 2008 after winning The Summit League with a 16-0 record. Hinterstocker came to NDSU from Alabama, where he was an assistant coach for two seasons. He also spent three seasons as an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay and one year at Alverno College in Wisconsin.