Women's Volleyball 11/18/2009 6:00:00 PM Ryan Powell, UND Media Relations

Volleyball Match Notes: Top-seeded Sioux sets sights on tournament crown

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - As first-year head coach Ashley Hardee said at UND Athletics' news conference on Wednesday, the regular season championship is in the rear view mirror. What lies ahead is another goal - the inaugural Great West Conference tournament title. The top-seeded Sioux embark on that quest this Friday at 5:30 p.m.

MEDIA COVERAGE: All matches played by UND at the Great West Volleyball Tournament will have live audio available on www.FightingSioux.com. Volleyball SID Ryan Powell will be calling the play-by-play. The first action for the Sioux will be on Friday at 5:30 p.m. when they take on the winner of the four-five match between South Dakota (fourth-seed) and Texas-Pan American (fifth-seed).

ALL-TIME VS. THE COYOTES AND BRONCS: The Sioux hold a 42-23 lead in the all-time series with South Dakota. UND's sweep of the Coyotes in their first meeting of the season on Oct. 15 snapped a five-match losing streak to USD. The two meetings between the Sioux and Texas-Pan American earlier this season were the first in that series. UND swept the Broncs on both occasions.

THIS SEASON VS. THE COYOTES: Senior Lindsay Vortherms set the UND career record for digs in the 3-0 sweep of South Dakota at the DakotaDome on Oct. 15. The Sioux held the Coyotes to a .093 attack percentage, while posting a .276 mark of their own. UND staged a big rally to win the first set 29-27 after fending off seven Coyote match points. The Sioux won the next two sets after seizing the momentum, 25-16 and 25-14, respectively. The match in Grand Forks was entirely different as USD looked to play the role of spoiler, but the Fighting Sioux managed a five-set victory that secured the outright Great West regular season title. USD took the opening set on Senior Day, but sophomore Annika Smed rose to the occasion and did not let the quartet of Sioux seniors leave disappointed. Smed tallied a career-high 24 kills and added 15 digs en route to her team-leading eighth double-double and earning the final Great West Conference Player of the Week honor for the season. Senior setter Megan Langseth had 53 assists in the contest that saw the Soiux post a season-high with 62 kills. Sophomore Devin Trefz added 17 kills and senior Britta Hanson, who also had five block assists, and junior Erin Joki each had 10 a piece.

THIS SEASON VS. THE BRONCS: The Fighting Sioux swept Texas-Pan American both times the teams met up this season. UND won at home on Sept. 19 (25-20, 25-16 and 25-15) and also in Edinburgh (25-18, 26-24 and 25-14). Sophomore Devin Trefz combined for 19 kills in the two matches, while classmate Annika Smed added 17. The Sioux defense held the Broncs to a combined .015 hitting percentage, including a -.045 clip on the visitor's home court. Senior Lindsay Vortherms had 24 digs and Smed led the UND blocking effort with four solo's and an assist as the team registered 16 total blocks in the two tilts. Senior Amanda Polzin had her best attacking match of the season against the Broncs in Grand Forks, finishing off 10 kills in 15 chances (.533, 10k-2e-15a). The team hit .236 (84k-35e-208a) and had 84 kills in six sets against UTPA in the regular season.

GREAT WEST CHAMPS: With a five-set victory over South Dakota on Nov. 14, the Fighting Sioux won the first conference title in program history, finishing their inaugural season in the Great West with an 11-1 record. The win over the Coyotes sealed the outright title as UND finished one game ahead of Utah Valley, the only team to knock off the Sioux in league play this season.

BETTY BE PERFECT: The victory over South Dakota also gave the Sioux a perfect 8-0 record at home this season - marking the first time in program history that a UND squad went unblemished on its home court. Over the past two seasons, the Sioux have a 15-1 mark at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

STREAKING SIOUX: After suffering their only conference loss of the season at Utah Valley on Oct. 1, the Sioux have reeled off 10 straight wins, including nine in Great West play. The loss to the Wolverines snapped a five-match winning streak prior that gives UND wins in 15 of its last 16 contests overall.

BACK-TO-BACK: For just the fourth time in program history, the Sioux have put together back-to-back 20 win seasons. The 2008 club posted a 24-8 record and its .750 winning percentage was tops in UND history. This year's edition brings a 20-6 record into the Great West Tournament and its .769 winning percentage is on track to eclipse last year's record-breaking mark. The best back-to-back seasons in school history based on win totals was when the 1989 and 1990 teams combined for 48 wins. Head coach Lisa Kissee led her 1989 team to a 22-19 record and backed that up with a 26-11 mark in 1990.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: It is one of the oldest cliches in the book, but if you look closely at the Great West Conference statistics, there might be something to the notion. UND ranks first in opponent hitting percentage (.120), first in blocks (238 total, 2.56/set), second in opponent kills (11.16/set) and second in digs (16.01/set). A pair of seniors have led the defensive effort for the Sioux this season. Middle blocker Britta Hanson ranks ninth among DI players nationally and first in the Great West in blocks per set (1.49) and libero Lindsay Vortherms ranks third in the Great West in digs per set (4.86).

FIRST YEAR SUCCESS: UND head coach Ashley Hardee is one of five first-year head coaches at the Division I level to win at least 20 games this season. Hardee joins Arkansas State's Justin Ingram (22), Austin Peay's Mike Johnson (22), Illinois' Kevin Hambly (21) and UC-Irvine's Paula Weishoff (21) in that club. His. 769 winning percentage (20-6) trails only Hambly's tallie of .840 (21-4).

PERFECTION: Senior Britta Hanson was on target in UND's sweep of Chicago State as she was a perfect 9-for-9 on attacks during the match to set a school single-match record. No other player with eight or more kills in a match had ever posted a 1.000 attack percentage. Hanson's efforts helped the Sioux set a season-high with a .333 attack percentage as well.

STINGY DEFENSE: Earlier this season, the Fighting Sioux set a new single-match rally scoring record by allowing Chicago State to score 30 points in a 3-0 sweep of the Cougars at 'The Betty' on Oct. 25. UND nearly broke that mark again against the Cougars on Nov. 5 when the Sioux surrendered 31 points in another sweep of Chicago State - this time on their home court. The match did result in UND tying one record and that was fewest points allowed in a rally-scoring set as the Cougars mustered just seven points in a 25-7 victory in set No. 2.

TREFZ AND SMED SET CAREER-HIGHS AGAINST HIGHLANDERS: Sophomore attackers Devin Trefz and Annika Smed both moved past their kill totals set as freshman in 2008 during the sweep of NJIT on Nov. 7. Trefz had 14 kills to bring her season total to 325, which is six more than her tally of 319 set a season ago. Smed added 15 kills and surpassed her freshman total of 258 by one. Currently, Trefz is ranks first on UND and second in the Great West with 342 kills (3.68/set). Smed is closing in on the 300-mark, entering tournament play with 283, which ranks sixth among GWC players (3.04/set).

VORTHERMS SURPASSES SUTTER IN SWEEP OF SOUTH DAKOTA: Senior Lindsay Vortherms etched her name a top the UND career digs list on Oct. 15 during a Sioux sweep of South Dakota. With 20 digs against the Coyotes, Vortherms surpassed Mindy Sutter (1,594, 1985-88) for the top spot on the list. She now has 1,637 during her tenure with the Sioux.

MAKING A CASE: Senior Britta Hanson is putting together another solid campaign in her final season with the Fighting Sioux and the Thompson, N.D. native is making a case for Great West Player of the Year honors. She currently leads the Great West Conference in blocks per set and ranks ninth nationally (1.49). She also leads the league in total blocks (133) and block assists (120). Hanson holds the top attack percentage in the league as well, finishing off attacks at a .314 clip (221k-62e-507a). Her 120 block assists are the second most in a single season at UND and earlier this season she became just the 12th player in school history to join the 1,000-kill club. Hanson has 221 kills on the season and has surpassed that 200-kill plateau in all four of her years with the Sioux.

FANS SHATTER BETTY ATTENDANCE MARK THREE TIMES IN 2009: It stood for just over a year, but the record for UND volleyball attendance at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center was eclipsed on three different occasions during the 2009 season. It was first set on Sept. 17 when 508 fans attended the home opener vs. Houston Baptist. Just over a month later, the tally was surpassed yet again on Oct. 23 when 891 fans came out for UND's annual 'Dig Pink' contest and the Sioux did not disappoint, sweeping New Jersey Institute of Technology to grab a share of first place in the Great West Conference. The Sioux fans also donated $898 for the Side Out Foundation from match proceeds. In the home finale against South Dakota, 1,000 fans saw UND defeated the Coyotes in five sets on Senior Day. The old mark entering the season was 500 set on Sept. 10, 2008, when the Sioux also swept its opposition - Valley City State.

BROOM, BROOM, BROOM: The Fighting Sioux bring a 10-match win streak into the Great West Tournament. Eight of those victims have been swept by the Sioux, including the first six, which set a new school record for consecutive sweeps. The old mark was held by the 2008 team with five straight. UND has since swept Chicago State and NJIT giving them a 27-2 set record in the last nine matches.

SWEEPING SUCCESS: The Fighting Sioux finished their inaugural season in Great West Conference play with a league-best 11-1 mark. Nine of those victories have came via the sweep and UND swept every team in the GWC except for Utah Valley - the Wolverines and Sioux played a five-set thriller won by UND on Oct. 31 and UVU defeated the Sioux 3-1 on Oct. 1. The team set a school record a season ago by registering 16 sweeps in 24 victories.

SEVENTH TO 2,000: Senior setter Megan Langseth earned a spot on the all-tournament team at the Best Western Sycamore Classic after leading the Sioux with 141 assists in the four-match event. With her total, she became just the seventh player in school history to surpass the 2,000-plateau in career assists. Through 26 matches this season, Langseth has 959 assists and has collected at least 30 helpers in 21 of those contests. She had a season-high 55 in the four-set victory over Montana State (Sept. 5). Langseth, who collected 1,134 assists during the 2008 campaign — a total that was the eighth highest in single-season history at UND — now has 2,888 for her career. She moved into fourth place on the career charts with 53 assists against South Dakota on Senior Day.

DOUBLE THREAT: It should come as little surprise that sophomore Annika Smed leads the team with seven double-doubles through 26 matches. One of the more versatile players on the team, Smed is the only Sioux player to surpass the 200-platuae this season in kills (283) and digs (299). Those figures rank second on the team, respectively. She was the only Sioux player from a season ago to finish with at least 200 kills (258) and 300 digs (347) and is on pace to achieve that same feat in 2009. Smed currently ranks sixth in the Great West with a 3.04 kill/set average.

TREFZ ON TOP: Sophomore Devin Trefz is off to a blistering start in the kills department through 26 matches. She leads the team with a career-high 342 successful attacks and her average of 3.68 kills/set is nearly a kill higher than her average of 2.77/set (319 total) from her freshman season. It also ranks her second in that category among Great West players. Trefz has reached double figures in kills in 23 of 26 matches and has led the club in that category in 20 matches. With 20 kills in the victory over Utah Valley on Oct. 31, it marked the second time she had 20-plus kills in a match this season. Montana State (Sept. 5).

JOKI JIVE: Junior Erin Joki established a new career-high in kills with 14 in a five-set victory over Utah Valley on Oct. 31. The Grand Rapids, Minn., native tallied a .400 attack percentage as well to earn GWC Player of the Week honors on Nov. 3. Joki also set a career-high in attack percentage twice this season, both times registering eight kills on 12 and 13 swings, respectively. Against SIU-E (Aug. 28), she hit .667 and in the sweep of Bemidji State (Oct. 20), Joki hit .615. She ranks fourth on the team with 130 kills and has twice collected 10 kills in a match (Aug. 28 vs. UMKC and Sept. 23 at Gonzaga).

EFFICIENT ATTACKER: Senior Amanda Polzin is fourth on the Sioux in attack percentage (.196, 136k-66e-357a) through the first 26 matches of the campaign. At the UniWyo Cowgirl Invite, she had 22 kills and finished with a team-best .419 attack percentage (22k-4e-43a). A career .240 attacker coming into the season, she opened Great West play by hitting .385 in the sweep of HBU and .533 with 10 kills against UTPA. She added a season-high 11 kills in a victory over UMKC on Aug. 28. Polzin has collected eight or more kills in nine matches this season.

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Players Mentioned

Mike Johnson: G; 6' 5"; Freshman

#3 Lindsay Vortherms: DS/L; 5' 8"; Freshman

#4 Britta Hanson: MH/RS; 6' 0"; Freshman

#6 Megan Langseth: DS/S; 5' 8"; Freshman

#4 Amanda Polzin: MH; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#8 Devin Trefz: OH; 6' 1"; Freshman

#2 Annika Smed: OH; 6' 0"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Mike Johnson
: 6' 5"; Freshman
: G

#3 Lindsay Vortherms
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: DS/L

#4 Britta Hanson
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: MH/RS

#6 Megan Langseth
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: DS/S

#4 Amanda Polzin
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: MH

#8 Devin Trefz
: 6' 1"; Freshman
: OH

#2 Annika Smed
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: OH