WHAT'S GOOD?
*North Dakota won its second Big Sky Conference regular season title, its first since 2013.
*UND has qualified for the Big Sky Tournament every season it's been in the league, for five consecutive appearance
*Only four teams have made the league tournament every season from 2012-16 (UND's first season in the league):
(UND, Northern Colorado, NAU, Idaho State)
*Those teams occupy four of the five top seeds in this season's tournament
*UND is eyeing its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth (in Division I)
*North Dakota leads the conference in total digs (2,024) and ranks fifth in the nation in that category
*UND also sets the pace in team blocks (296.0), ranking 11th in NCAA D-1
*Mark Pryor is 36-12 all-time in Big Sky Conference play
*Faith Dooley (460) is 29 total blocks away from breaking the school's all-time blocks record (488- Karla Danielson).

WHAT'S AT STAKE:
The winner of the eight-team tournament will grab the Big Sky's automatic berth into the 64-team NCAA Division I Tournament, set to begin Dec. 1 at campus sites. 

ON TAP
The 2016 Big Sky Conference Tournament heads to Grand Forks, N.D. for the first time as the regular season champion Fighting Hawks claimed the top overall seed with a 14-2 league record. North Dakota is making its fifth-straight appearance in the league championship.

VARYING VENUES
North Dakota will become the fifth different venue for the league championship in the last five seasons. Last season, Northern Arizona used its home-court advantage to the title, but before that, four of the previous five hosts did not win the tournament.

TWENTY WINS
North Dakota has clinched its fourth straight 20+ win season and its eighth in the last nine seasons. Since moving to NCAA Division I in 2008, UND has a combined record of 182-74 (.711). Prior to that, UND had just seven 20+ win seasons (from 1976-2007) and a winning percentage of .426.

DOOLEY DOING WORK
Junior Faith Dooley powered North Dakota to a pair of huge sweeps last week, ending Northern Arizona's 25-match home winning streak and then vaulting past Northern Colorado Saturday to earn the top seed for the tournament. For her efforts, she was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week. She hammered down 25 kills on just 36 swings for an average of 4.17 kills per set along with a scorching .583 hitting percentage for the week. She finished with a match-high 14 kills on 20 swings with just three errors at NAU Thursday then followed that up with 11 kills on 16 swings with just one error in the regular season finale vs. UNC.

WHERE THEY SIT:
Milestones upcoming for North Dakota players:
3000 assists- Sydney Griffin (2,668)
1000 kills- Faith Dooley (981) and Chelsea Moser (952)

UND ALL-TIME IN THE BIG SKY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
North Dakota is making its fifth appearance in the tournament but is 1-4 in the tournament overall. North Dakota's lone win came in the quarterfinal round of the 2014 championship, a 3-0 win over Montana.

2015 (Flagstaff, Ariz.)
vs. Idaho L, 2-3

2014 (Pocatello, Idaho)
vs. Montana W, 3-0
vs. No. Colorado L, 0-3

2013 (Portland, Ore.)
vs. Idaho State L, 1-3

2012 (Greeley, Colo.)
at No. Colorado L, 0-3

DOMINANT DOWN THE STRETCH
North Dakota comes into the tournament with an eight-match winning streak, a dominant stretch that has seen UND lose just three sets combined. UND has won 14 of its last 15 matches overall.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE BLOTTER
Tamara Merseli (12)
11/10/16 at NAU 11 kills, 13 digs
11/5/16 vs. Idaho 21 kills, 18 digs
10/28 at Montana 13 kills, 12 digs
10/21 at Idaho State 16 kills, 14 digs
10/15 vs Montana 14 kills, 17 digs
10/8 vs Portland State 16 kills, 30 digs
10/6 vs Sac State 10 kills, 28 digs
9/22 vs So. Utah 10 kills, 18 digs
9/14 at SDSU 10 kills, 12 digs
9/9 at Tulane 12 kills, 16 digs
8/30 at USD 15 kills, 13 digs
8/27 vs Ole Miss 13 kills, 17 digs

Sydney Griffin (9)
11/5 vs Idaho 48 assists, 13 digs
10/28 at Montana 40 assists, 13 digs
10/22 at Weber St 51 assists, 10 kills
10/21 at Idaho St 41 assists, 20 digs
10/6 vs Sac State 54 assists, 17 digs
9/14 at SDSU 42 assists, 13 digs
9/9 at Tulane 52 assists, 11 digs
9/8 at Clemson 39 assists, 20 digs
9/2 vs. UTEP 35 assists, 10 digs

Faith Dooley (1)
10/8 vs. Portland State 11 kills, 10 blocks

BACK-TO-BACK JACK
Tamara Merseli gave UND back-to-back Big Sky Conference Defensive Players of the Week thanks to her efforts Oct. 6-8 against Sacramento State and Portland State. She registered double-doubles in both wins, piling up 58 digs, including a career-best 30 in the Oct. 8 win vs. the Vikings.

YOU BETCHA!
North Dakota ranks 43rd in all of NCAA Division I in average attendance with 1,108 per match this season. That total leads all Big Sky Conference schools. UND's home opener with Omaha drew 2,056 fans, the fourth-highest ever at the Betty for volleyball and best attended in a non-NDSU match.

Top 4 attended volleyball matches at the Betty
2,688 - Sep 30, 2013 vs NDSU
2,394 - Sep 6, 2011 vs NDSU
2,232 - Oct 13, 2015 vs NDSU
2,056 - Aug 26, 2016 vs Omaha

POWER TRIP
North Dakota zapped another “Power 5 Conference” school (ACC, SEC, PAC-12, Big 10 or Big 12) with its 3-1 win over the ACC's Clemson on Sep. 8. UND previously downed Mississippi State from the SEC back in 2014.

LIV AND LET LIVE
Redshirt freshman Alivia Fraase was honored with the Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week after her performances in road wins at Idaho and Eastern Washington, Sep. 29-30. She etched a new career high with 30 digs in the win over the Vandals and added 26 more against the Eagles to average 7.0 digs per set on the week.

TO ERR IS NOT NORTH DAKOTAN
In the Mark Pryor era at North Dakota, his team has made a habit of limiting attack errors. In fact, 16 times in his tenure UND has recorded single digits in that statistical category, including five already this season.

BECAUSE YOU GOT TO HAVE-A FAITH
Junior Faith Dooley moved into 3rd place all-time at UND in total blocks. She goes into the tournament with 460 total blocks in her three seasons.

total blocks
Career
1. Karla Danielson (1988-91) 488
2. Mindy Sutter (1985-88) 463
3. Faith Dooley (2014-) 460
4. Tara Holmen (2004-07) 457
5. Britta Hanson (2006-09) 447

RECORD REWIND
The University of North Dakota volleyball program holds a 685-750-3 (.476) record all-time since the first match was played on Sept. 22, 1976.

PUTTING TEAMS TO BETTY BYE
North Dakota is 109-44 (.712) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004 season. Since 2008, UND is a staggering 87-18 (.829) including a school-record 13 wins in 2011. North Dakota is 42-10 (.808) at home the past four seasons.

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 four 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 pick up a handful of home matches and a key road tilt at Northern Arizona.

Midco Sports Network**
Aug 27 vs. Ole Miss Midco Sports Net
Aug 27 vs. UC Davis Midco Sports Net
Aug 30 at South Dakota Midco Sports Net
Sep 22 vs. Southern Utah Midco Sports Net

Fox Sports North**
Oct 6 vs. Sacramento State FOX Sports North
Oct 8 vs. Portland State FOX Sports North Plus
Oct 13 vs. Montana State FOX Sports North Plus
Nov 3 vs. Eastern Washington FOX Sports North Plus
Nov 10 at Northern Arizona FOX Sports North Plus

**All also air on FOX College Sports

BEK Broadcasting Network
Oct 26 at North Dakota State BEK (4.1 in GF)

See volleyball schedule page on UNDsports.com for channel numbers