North Dakota at South Dakota || 10/31 (7 p.m.)
91st Meeting; UND leads series 52-38
Vermillion, S.D. (Sanford Coyote Sports Center)

FULL GAME NOTES ARE HERE

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - October nears an end and the final night of the month sends North Dakota to Vermillion for a Halloween match up against South Dakota. First serve in the 91st meeting between the two programs is set for 7 p.m. Live coverage links for the Summit League affair are available at FightingHawks.com.  

North Dakota endured its busiest stretch of the conference slate last week hosting Summit League foes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. UND dropped a four-set match to North Dakota State on Tuesday and suffered straight-sets defeats to Omaha and St. Thomas. In the action against the Mavericks, the Hawks received a spark from redshirt freshman Olivia Edlund who, in her first career start, delivered a career-high
seven kills at .375 with two digs. Against St. Thomas, in what was the second match up between the two sides in less than ten days, the squads combined for 110 digs as multiple points were earned on deep rallies. True freshman Vanessa Imoh finished with seven kills on 20 attempts at .300. It marked her fourth match this season with a .275 attack clip or better and 18 or more attempts.

North Dakota plays just once this week matching up against South Dakota on Halloween night. In the first meeting against the Coyotes, UND set a season high in total attacks with 188, behind a career-high 44 from sophomore Lauren Perugini, and a season high in block assists with 30. Perugini registered a double-double with a career-high 18 kills and 13 digs, junior defensive specialist Izzie McCormick recorded a new career-best with 26 digs and senior middle blocker Jarolin de los Santos Lugo notched a career-high nine block assists.

The Hawks finished up round one of Summit League action at 1-7 overall. UND played a league-high 33 sets in the eight league tilts. The Hawks battled in three five-set matches and played extra in eight sets, while 14 league sets were decided by three points or less. North Dakota started the back half of league action with its match ups against Omaha and St. Thomas. In Summit League play, the Hawks currently rank fourth in total digs with 591 at the third-highest rate of 15.15. UND has recorded 44 service aces (8th), 66.0 total blocks (8th), 444 kills (7th), 409 assists (8th) and an attack clip of .158 (7th). Following a three-match road stretch, the Hawks close out their home slate with matches against Kansas City and South Dakota State. UND has matched their home-wins output from a season ago with five. A sixth win inside the Betty would give UND its most at home since winning seven in 2018.

The Hawks have won the opening set in nine of its 19 matches winning five of those contests in addition to earning three wins after dropping the opening set. In 81 total sets played this season, UND has won 34. Of the 47 sets that the Hawks have fallen in, NoDak has seen ten go extra and 18 decided by just three points or less. Overall, UND is -61 in kills (949-1010), +4 in aces (108-104), +4 in digs (1,139-1,135) and +5.5 in blocks (163.5-158.0).

SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA
The Coyotes enter the week in third place in the current Summit League standings with a 7-3 record. Overall, USD is 15-6 which stands as the second-most overall wins in the SL behind unbeaten SDSU's 20. USD has won two straight and five of their past six. South Dakota sits atop the Summit League in eight statistical categories including assists (1,049), assists per set (1.39), digs (1,325), digs per set (15.96), kills (1,150), kills per set (13.86), attacks (3,066) and attacks per set (36.94). USD's kills per set rate ranks 18th nationally, while the team's total kills ranks inside the top 25 in DI. Avery Van Hook paces the offense with 10.48 assists per set which leads the SL and ranks 26th in DI. She ranks 14th in the country with a league-high 859 helpers. Kamryn Farris leads the league in digs per set at 4.58 and ranks second in service aces with 31. Her 380 total digs are a league best and inside the national top 50. Four USD attackers are inside the league's top 25 in kills per set. Kylen Sealock's 3.42 kills per set is the fifth highest rate and Lauren Medeck's 2.67 kills per set ranks tenth. Morgan Bode holds a pair of top seven rankings among Summit League players. She rates fifth with 85 total blocks and seventh in blocks per set at 1.02.

UND BY THE NUMBERS
88 -The number of assists needed by graduate setter Elizabeth Norris to reach 2,000 for her career.
81 -The number of digs needed by senior defensive specialist Maddy Hornyak to reach 1,000 for her career.
6 -The number of Hawks with 100 or more kills. UND hasn't seen seven players reach the century mark in terminations since 2016. Freshman Vanessa Imoh is 36 kills from becoming the seventh this season.
0 -The number of players in UND's DI era (2008 to present) that have recorded 100.0 total blocks and 30 aces in a single season. Senior Jarolin de los Santos Lugo is 14.0 blocks and four aces away from becoming the first.