UP NEXT FOR NORTH DAKOTA: Two-time defending Great West Conference champion North Dakota will open the 2011 season in Green Bay, Wis., at the Green Bay/Country Inn and Suites Tournament. Along with host Green Bay, the Fighting Sioux will face Dayton and James Madison.

UND will open the tournament against the Flyers on Friday, Aug. 26 at 4:30 p.m. (Central). On Saturday, Aug. 27, the Sioux will face the Phoenix at 1:30 p.m. (Central) and the Dukes at 4:30 p.m. (Central).

Below is the full tournament schedule:

LIVE FROM GREEN BAY: Links for live stats and a live video webcast can be found on www.FightingSioux.com, the home of Fighting Sioux athletics and on www.GreenBayPhoenix.com.

SERIES HISTORY ... No. 19 DAYTON FLYERS

SCOUTING THE FLYERS: Dayton will begin the season ranked No. 19 on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Coaches Top 25 Preseason Poll. It is the second consecutive season in which Dayton has been nationally-ranked in the preseason and the 20th consecutive week the Flyers have been in the top 25. Dayton's No. 19 position to begin the season is the highest preseason ranking in program history, after beginning 2010 at No. 21 ... The Flyers went a perfect 15-0 in the A-10 last season to win its sixth conference title and earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Dayton swept Butler in the tournament's opening round, but was upset by Ohio State in the second round ... Dayton will try to defend its title minus three-time AVCA All-American Lindsay Fletemier, who recently signed a professional contract to play for the Puerto Rican-based Criollas de Caguas in the Federación Puertorriqueña de Voleibol (FPV or Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation), 2010 A-10 Setter for the Year and AVCA Honorable Mention All-America Jessica Yanz, and two-time A-10 All-Conference first team honoree Becky Novacek ... Picked to three-peat at the A-10 champions,

2010 AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year Kelly Sheffield and his Flyers return starters senior outside hitter Yvonne Marten, junior outside hitter Rachel Krabacher and junior libero Paige Vargas. Marten is the team's lone senior and leads all returning players in hitting percentage (.268) and blocks per set (0.89) from 2010. Krabacher was third on the team in kills a year ago (291), averaging 2.75 per set and Vargas paced the Flyers in digs, registering 435 in her 109 sets played.

THE STREAK: With a win over No. 19 Dayton in the opening game of the Green Bay/Country Inn and Suites Tournament, the Fighting Sioux would not only knock off an NCAA Division I nationally ranked opponent, but they would also set a new program record of 16 consecutive wins.

The Sioux finished the 2010 season with 15 straight victories to equal the program mark set earlier in the season as the 2009 team won 12 straight to close out the season and then the 2010 squad opened with three straight wins.

SERIES HISTORY ... GREEN BAY PHOENIX

SCOUTING THE PHOENIX: Picked to finish fifth in the 2011 Horizon League Preseason Coaches Poll, Green Bay finished it's 2010 campaign 12-19 overall and an even 8-8 for fifth place in the conference ... It's four-match winning streak was snapped when fourth-seeded Valparaiso defeated the Phoenix in straight sets (25-17, 25-13, 25-19) in the quarterfinal match of the Horizon League Championship ... The Phoenix said good-bye to junior libero Karli Koralewski and senior setter Whitney Schott, who was the only Green Bay player named to the 14-person All Horizon League Team ... Green Bay returns senior right side Abbey Gitter, who led the team with 317 kills, libero Brittany Groth, who led the Horizon League with 5.68 digs per set, and sophomore outside hitter Lyndsay Zabkowicz, who was the only Phoenix named to the Horizon League All-Newcomer Team ... Green Bay is coached by Debbie Kirch, who is 148-274 after 14 seasons as head coach.

LAST TIME VS. GREEN BAY: In their first and last meeting, the Fighting Sioux defeated the Phoenix in three straight sets (25-18, 29-27, 25-12) in the second match of the Hampton Inn Drake Invitational (Sept. 4, 2010). Tia Russell (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) was a key factor in the win registering 10 kills on 22 swings. She also added seven block assists. Annika Smed finished with a team-high 11 kills and Ellen Krueger tallied 40 assists and 10 digs.

SERIES HISTORY ... JAMES MADISON DUKES

SCOUTING THE DUKES: Picked to finish second in the 2011 Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Coaches Poll, James Madison finished the 2010 season 22-8 overall and took second in the CAA with a 10-4 league mark ... The Dukes clinched a spot in the CAA Tournament with a 4-1 win over Hofstra (Nov. 13) in the final game of the regular season. Their tournament run was cut short after falling 3-2 in a five-set thriller against Northeastern in the CAA Tournament semifinals on Nov. 20 ... James Madison graduated 2011 National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American Athlete of the Year, 2011 JMU Gary '81 and Fredericka (Cookie) McCollum Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and 2010 All-CAA first team member Lindsay Callahan ... The Dukes return two-time 2010 CAA co-Offensive Player of the Week and Preseason All-CAA selection junior outside hitter Danielle Erb, 2011 Preseason All-CAA honorable mention junior outside hitter Natalie Abel, and 2010 CAA All-Rookie team selection sophomore defensive specialist Katie Daorai ... After leading the Dukes to a 22-8 finished her first year at the helm, head coach Lauren Steinbrecher was named the University Division State Coach of the Year by the Virginia Sports Information Directors Association (VaSID).

NOTING THE SIOUX: North Dakota finished the 2010 season on a 15-match winning streak to capture it's second Great West Conference regular season and tournament title ... The Sioux ended the season 25-5 overall and posted a perfect 12-0 mark in the conference ... North Dakota lost just two players - 2010 Great West Conference Player of the Year right side Erin Joki and Aug. 31 GWC Player of the Week defensive specialist/libero Courtney Halvorson - from last season's perfect 12-0 Great West Conference title run ... Two-time GWC Coach of the Year Ashley Hardee returns 2010 GWC Setter of the Year sophomore Ellen Krueger, 2010 GWC Tournament MVP senior outside hitter Annika Smed, 2010 GWC All-Conference selection senior outside hitter Devin Trefz, and 2010 All-Newcomer Team pick sophomore middle hitter Ronni Munkeby ... The Fighting Sioux will open their home slate Labor Day weekend as they host Green Bay, Montana and Southern Utah for the 2011 North Dakota Volleyball Classic.

AUG. 24 :: BOHANNON, SMED SELECTED TO CAPTAIN 2011 SQUAD: Minnesota natives Taylor Bohannon (DS, Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Annika Smed (OH, Albert Lea, Minn.) were selected to co-captain the 2011 North Dakota volleyball team.

The senior duo will be joined by assistant captain sophomore Ronni Munkeby (MB, Lisbon, N.D.).

RECORD REWIND: The University of North Dakota volleyball program holds a 552-684-3 (.446) record all-time since the first game was played on Sept. 22, 1976. Under head coach Ashley Hardee, UND is 47-11 (.810).

PROTECT AND SERVE: All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 185-182 (.504) when it comes to defending their own court.

LET'S GET BETTY TO RUMBLE: North Dakota is 49-28 (.636) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004 season.

UND TO JOIN BIT SKY CONFERENCE IN 2012-13: University of North Dakota President Dr. Robert Kelley and Athletics Director Brian Faison announced on Nov. 1, 2010 that the University of North Dakota has accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference beginning with the 2012-13 academic year.

UND joined Southern Utah University in accepting invitations to become core members of the Division I conference.

UND received a formal invitation from the league on Friday, Oct. 29, concluding a process that began when the presidents of the nine current Big Sky Conference universities approved expansion plans at their annual fall meetings on Oct. 20.

President Kelley formally notified Big Sky Conference Commissioner Doug Fullerton later that day that UND had accepted that invitation.

UND will officially join the Big Sky on July 1, 2012, but will begin working immediately with the current membership on scheduling, marketing, and other conference matters.

UND ON THE INTERNET: www.FightingSioux.com is the official online home of University of North Dakota athletics.

www.FightingSioux.com is a veritable one-stop shop for the most hard-core Sioux fan, featuring breaking news, feature stories, game notes, live and archived video webcasts, FREE audio, FREE live stats, podcasts, blogs, player profiles, merchandise, photo galleries, news feeds, camp registration and much, much more.

UND GONE MOBILE: The University of North Dakota athletics department and leading technology service provider NeuLion, Inc. (TSX: NLN) announced the launch of UND's official athletics mobile website, www.FightingSioux.com.

The new UND athletics destination offers a mobile device-enabled version of the site, amplifying the user experience on the go. The mobile website will deliver a condensed version of the official athletics site to provide latest news and quick updates to handheld devices. North Dakota's official athletics website is available on all web-enabled devices by opening a browser and entering the www.fightingsioux.com URL. Users can get the latest news, scores, upcoming schedule, photo galleries and more.

- Go Sioux -