Weekly Notebook (PDF)
North Dakota (30-7): After North Dakota won its second consecutive Big Sky Volleyball Championship and received the Big Sky’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, the Fighting Hawks will face No. 7 overall Minnesota in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. The entire 64-team field for the NCAA Volleyball Tournament was announced Sunday evening.
North Dakota posted a 12-4 Big Sky mark and currently owns a 30-7 overall record. UND’s 30 wins shattered the program’s record for wins in a single season, besting the old mark of 26. North Dakota had an impressive Big Sky championship run as the Fighting Hawks set two team records for most block assists and total blocks recorded in two or more matches at a Big Sky championship. North Dakota tallied 63 total block assists and 39.0 total team blocks in its three matches played at the Big Sky championships.
The Fighting Hawks are led by a pair of veterans in senior setter Sydney Griffin and senior middle blocker Faith Dooley. Griffin was the only individual to record a triple-double in the Big Sky this season and she did so on two occasions with one in the Big Sky championship match. Dooley recently became the Big Sky’s all-time career leader for total blocks as the native of Wheatland, N.D., has 672 total blocks over her four-year career.
Additionally, Dooley set an individual record for total blocks (20) recorded at two or more matches during a Big Sky championship. She also ranks third for total block assists (17) at a Big Sky championship.
Griffin also found her name in the individual record books at this year’s Big Sky championships. Griffin logged 146 total assists during the tournament, which ranks fourth in Big Sky championship history. She also hit an outstanding .706, registering 12 kills on 17 attempts and no errors during the championship match. Her .706 hitting percentage ranks third all-time for hitting percentage in a single match.
UND hopes to be the first Big Sky team to win a match in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament since 2007. Interestingly enough, Minnesota was the last team to lose to a Big Sky program in the NCAA tournament as Sacramento State beat them in four sets.
North Dakota will take the court against Minnesota (26-5) at 7 p.m. CT on Friday at the Minnesota Sports Pavilion. The winner of that matchup will face the winner of Northern Iowa and Louisville.
Sacramento State (26-9): The Hornets open the NIVC tournament on Tuesday against UC Irvine at 4:30 p.m. Boise State and Pacific will play each other in the second matchup on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. The winners of those two games will play in the second round at the Spanos Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. This marks Sacramento State’s first postseason appearance since qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2007.
The NIVC, which is the equivalent to the basketball NIT, offers bids to teams that do not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The NIVC was originally played from 1989-95, and is making its return this season. Sacramento State received an automatic berth into the tournament after winning the Big Sky Conference regular season championship.
Sacramento State will enter the tournament with a 26-9 overall record, and the Hornets had their seven-game winning streak snapped in the Big Sky Tournament loss to North Dakota. The Hornets went 15-1 in league to win the Big Sky’s regular season title and host the conference’s postseason event. Pacific has won four straight and currently owns a 16-13 overall record and 11-7 mark in the West Coast Conference. Boise State has also won its last four games and is currently 17-13 overall and 10-8 in the Mountain West Conference, and UC Irvine is 22-7 overall and 10-6 in the Big West Conference.
The Hornets are led by setter Kennedy Kurtz. The senior is ranked second all-time in total assists (5,479) in Big Sky history and is now ranked fifth all-time in Big Sky championship history in total assists (140) recorded at a Big Sky championship.