Aberdeen, S.D. – Survive and advance. The No. 8 Northern State University volleyball team advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament yesterday evening with a win over No. 7 St. Cloud State. The Wolves will face off against host and second ranked Nebraska Kearney at 7:30 p.m. this evening.
QUICK HITS ON THE #8 NORTHERN STATE WOLVES
• Northern State tallied their first regional victory in program history on Thursday evening with the sweep over No. 7 St. Cloud State, improving to 25-5 on the year
• The Wolves won the NSIC Overall Conference Championship, going 17-3 in league action
• Not only did the Wolves win back-to-back titles, but seven student-athletes were named to the NSIC All-Conference teams (the most in program history) highlighted with
Laura Snyder earning Offensive Player of the Year honors
•
Jenna Reiff and
Ashley Rozell joined Snyder on the first team, while
Jaiden Langlie,
Morgan Baufield,
Peyton Ellingson, and
Sally Gaul earned second team accolades
• Rozell also grabbed post-season honors being named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District(R) team for the third straight season
•
Laura Snyder continued with the post season awards being named the NCAA Central Region Player of the Year by both the AVCA and D2CCA
• In addition,
Ashley Rozell and
Jenna Reiff tallied first team All-Region honors from the AVCA
• The Wolves are hitting a national second best .290 this season, averaging 14.7 kills, 13.7 assists, 16.6 digs, 1.2 aces, and 2.0 blocks per set
• NSU ranks in the top-5 nationally in attack percentage, kills per set, and assists per set
•
Laura Snyder leads the offense with 438 kills in 2019, averaging 4.06 per set with a .336 attack percentage; the junior tallied the 1,000th kill of her career this season
•
Jenna Reiff follows with 393 total kills, averaging 3.64 per set; she continues to climb the all-time list at NSU with 1,201 total kills in third
•
Ashley Rozell has dished out 1,308 total assists and ranks fourth in the country averaging 12.11 assists per set; she is the NSU all-time assists leader with 5,151 total and is the first player in program history to record over 1,200 assists in each of her four seasons
•
Jaiden Langlie leads the Wolves defense with 504 total digs, averaging 4.67 per set, in addition to a team high 40 service aces
• Langlie is the first Northern State player in 25 years to record over 1,500 career digs with 1,829 currently, ranking her fifth all-time
MATCHING UP WITH THE #2 LOPERS
• Nebraska Kearney earned the top seed in the Central Region Tournament and enters the match-up as one of just two undefeated teams this season, posting a 34-0 record
• The Lopers are ranked second in the AVCA Top-25 Poll
• UNK opened the NCAA Tournament with a 3-set win over Oklahoma Baptist
• They are hitting .253 this season, averaging 14.2 kills, 13.3 assists, a national leading 21.3 digs, 1.4 aces, and 1.9 blocks per set
• Julianne Jackson leads the team with 349 total kills, averaging 3.06 per set, as well as a team high 31 service aces
• Anna Squiers follows with 265 kills, averaging 2.43 per set, and hitting a team best .329
• Maddie Squiers has paced the offense with 1,220 assists this season, averaging 10.99 per set
• Lindsey Nottlemann leads the Loper defense with 605 total digs, averaging 5.26 per set, followed by Jackson with 433, averaging 3.80 per set
• Michaela Bartels sits atop the team in net defense with 81.0 blocks this season, averaging 0.76 per set
• Kearney is led by head coach Rick Squiers in his 20th season at the helm
LAST MATCH-UP
• The Lopers and Wolves last faced off in 2014, with UNK coming away with a 3-0 victory
• NSU hit .246 in the match with 43 kills, 41 assists, 35 digs, five blocks, and one ace
• Wolves assistant coach
Holly Vancura was in her freshman season for NSU
• Northern State is 1-7 all-time versus Nebraska Kearney with their lone win (3-2) coming in 2006
