BY THE NUMBERS
6.20    =    McKenzie Hart's digs/set, TOPS in all of NCAA Division 1
552    =    Total digs for Hart, already 7th on UND season dig list
11.26    =    Sydney Griffin assists/set, 20th in D-1, tops in Big Sky
1,002    =    Griffin total assists, 2nd-most in country
9-0    =    UND's record in five-set matches over the past two yrs.
27-16    =    UND's record in five-set matches since joining D-1

ON TAP
North Dakota continues its four-match road trip with a visit to Big Sky South members Northern Arizona and Southern Utah on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. The league slate is at the halfway point with UND tied for 6th at 4-4 in Big Sky play.

LAST WEEK
North Dakota dropped a pair of road tilts last week, falling 3-0 at Portland State and Northern Colorado. The match with the Vikings was tight throughout as the Viks won by two points in all three sets, including two going extra points. The Bears continued their home dominance Saturday with a 3-0 win with several UND players battling injury concerns.

ALL-TIME VS. THE LUMBERJACKS
NAU leads the all-time series 4-1 between the schools. NAU was a 3-0 winner last season in Grand Forks in the teams' only meeting.  

ALL-TIME VS. THE THUNDERBIRDS
North Dakota has the solid upper hand on the all-time series with Southern Utah, winning seven of the eight contests, including the last three. Last season, UND wown 3-1 in Grand Forks on Oct. 25. UND's lone loss was a five-set setback in Cedar City, Utah on Nov. 17, 2012-- a match UND led two sets to none.

TOUGH ROAD TO HOE
This week's matches will go a long way towards determining seeding for the Big Sky Conference Tournament in November. Idaho State, Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona are all tied atop the league at 7-1 in the battle to host. Two teams are at 5-3 (Sacramento State and Idaho) and then three more at 4-4 (North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Southern Utah). In UND's final eight matches, only two are among teams NOT currently in this group and both of those are road matches (at Montana State, at Montana).

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT ON THE BISON
The all-time series history is slanted heavily towards North Dakota State (70-8), however, UND owns wins in four of the last six meetings (all in the Division I era). In those six meetings, only UND has won on the road (2012).

RECENT RESULTS IN THE RIVALRY
2010- at NDSU 3, UND 0
2011- at UND 3, NDSU 1
2012- UND 3, at NDSU 0
2013- at UND 3, NDSU 0
2014- at NDSU 3, UND 1
2015- at UND 3, NDSU 0

PLEAD THE FIFTH
UND opponents may not want to know that its been since 2013 since North Dakota lost a five-set match. That streak includes nine straight wins in matches that have gone the distance. The season-opening five-set win vs. Dayton saw UND rally from down 4-0 in the deciding set to post a 16-14 win.

SYD THE KID
Sophomore Sydney Griffin is the league leader in assists per set (11.26). She just surpassed the 1,000-assist mark for the season and is second in the NCAA in total assists. She has eclipsed the 40-assist mark 11 times this year.

MO -ING THEM DOWN
Junior Chelsea Moser blocked a career-high 11 balls in the Sep. 19 win over South Carolina-Upstate. In doing so, she helped UND to 17 total team blocks, both marks setting building records at Saint Louis University. She generated a new career kills mark in a Sep. 26 win at Idaho with 16.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE DATA
Freshman Courtney Place leads UND in double-double performances, turning the trick eight times already this year. The season's running total below:

Courtney Place (8)
Aug 28 vs. Dayton    15 kills, 13 digs
Aug 28 vs Marquette    10 kills, 11 digs
Sep 10 vs. Green Bay    19 kills, 11 digs
Sep 18 at Saint Louis    10 kills, 10 digs
Sep 19 vs. USC-Upstate    17 kills, 10 digs
Sep. 26 at Idaho    18 kills, 11 digs
Oct. 3 vs. Montana St.    14 kills, 15 digs
Oct. 13 vs. NDSU    12 kills, 14 digs

Sydney Griffin (4)
Aug 28 vs. Dayton     50 assists, 10 digs
Aug 28 vs. Marquette    60 assists, 13 digs
Sep. 8 vs. SDSU    44 assists, 10 digs
Sep. 26 at Idaho    52 assists, 10 digs

CAN YOU DIG IT?
Seniors Lauren Clarke and McKenzie Hart have been mainstays in the backrow for North Dakota for their careers. The pair are now both north of the 1,500-dig mark in their careers and still climbing the all-time record book at UND. The pair would need to reach the 1,616 mark to crack the top 10 all-time in the Big Sky Conference.

Career Digs
1.    Lindsay Vortherms (2005-09)    1,749
2.    Mindy Sutter (1985-88)    1,594
3.    McKenzie Hart (2012-)    1,569
4.    Lauren Clarke (2012-)    1,544

JUST PUTTING IT OUT THERE...
McKenzie Hart is rewriting the record books at UND in digs. She already owns the single-season record and she is approaching some career records as well. A look at where she sits with eight matches remaining in the regular season:

Career Digs
McKenzie Hart - 1,569
UND record- 1,749 (Lindsay Vortherms)
Big Sky record- 2,355 (Kristin Lutes, SAC)

Digs/Set
McKenzie Hart- 6.20
UND record - 4.78 (Lindsay Vortherms)
Big Sky record - 6.32 (Brittany Stowers, NAU)

SHE'S DOING IT AGAIN
Senior McKenzie Hart has a season dig total of 552 and has generated at least 20 digs 14 times this season. She already is 3rd in the season dig list at UND for her 2015 performance. Her current pace (6.20 digs per set) is tops in all of NCAA Division I and would demolish the school's single-season per set record as well (4.78- Lindsay Vortherms in 2009). She broke the single-season dig record last year with 583 (4.70/set).

Digs- Season
1.     McKenzie Hart (2014)    583
2.    Jill Effhauser (2002)    557
3.    McKenzie Hart (2015)    552
4.    Lindsay Vortherms (2008)    543
5.    Mindy Sutter (1998)    541
6    Lauren Clarke (2013)    531
7.    Lauren Clarke (2012)    518
8.    Mindy Sutter (1985)    512
9.    Lindsay Vortherms (2009).    488
10.    Lindsay Vortherms (2006)    459

EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Freshman Amanda Harnett had an impressive match at #21 Iowa State Aug. 29. She registered eight kills and added a career-best eight total blocks in the four-set loss. She averaged 1.67 kills per set in her first collegiate weekend (20 kills/12 sets).

NEWCOMER NEWS
UND's incoming freshman class has earned national recognition from prepvolleyball.com, listed as receiving high honorable mention accolades among the website's top college recruiting classes. The site listed the nation's top 30 recruiting classes and also awards highest honorable mention and high honorable mention teams.

RECORD REWIND
The University of North Dakota volleyball program holds a 657-737-3 (.472) record all-time since the first match was played on Sept. 22, 1976.

PUTTING TEAMS TO BETTY BYE
North Dakota is 98-39 (.715) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004 season.  Since 2008, UND is a staggering 76-13 (.854) including a school-record 13 wins in 2011. North Dakota is 31-5 (.861) at home the past three seasons.

THESE GO TO ELEVEN...
In the Mark Pryor era at North Dakota, his team has made a habit of limiting attack errors. In fact, 11 times in his tenure UND has recorded single digits in that statistical category, including this season's home opening win over South Dakota State:

Opponent    Date    Attack Errors
vs Tenn.-Martin    Sep. 18, 2015    4 (3 sets)
MONTANA    Nov. 8, 2014    6 (3 sets)
vs. South Dakota State    Sept. 8, 2015    7 (3 sets)
vs. Mississippi Valley State    Sept. 18, 2014    7 (3 sets)
at Drake    Sept. 2, 2014    8 (3 sets)
MONTANA STATE    Nov. 6, 2014    9 (3 sets)
vs. Arkansas State    Aug. 29, 2014    9 (5 sets)
TULANE    Sept. 5, 2014    9 (3 sets)
vs. SIU Edwardsville    Sept. 20, 2014    9 (3 sets)
at Weber State    Oct. 10, 2014    9 (3 sets)
vs. Ark.-Pine Bluff    Sep. 19, 2015    9 (3 sets)

WATCHBIGSKY.com
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.

UND ON THE INTERNET
UNDSports.com is the official online home of University of North Dakota athletics.  UNDSports.com is a veritable one-stop shop for the most hard-core UND 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 ON TV
Midco Sports Network will televise three UND volleyball matches as part of its broadcast deal that includes football, men's hockey, women's hockey, men's basketball and women's basketball. Fox Sports North will also air three matches, giving UND national exposure seven different times this season with Fox College Sports picking up all of these games plus the Sep. 10 match for its national audience.

Sep 8    vs. South Dakota State    Midco Sports Net
Sep 10    vs. Green Bay    Fox College Sports
Sep 11    vs. South Dakota    Midco Sports Net
Oct. 1    vs. Montana    Fox Sports North
Oct. 8    vs. Weber State    Fox Sports North
Oct 13    vs. NDSU    Midco Sports Net
Nov. 12    vs. Idaho    Fox Sports North
**all will air on Fox College Sports, see volleyball schedule page on UNDsports.com for channel numbers**