SPEARFISH, S.D.- The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (2-2) are getting their final non-conference test this weekend as they compete in the Sioux Falls Volleyball Classic in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Yellow Jackets will face four teams this weekend including a matchup versus the #6 team in the country, Washburn, in the Sanford Pentagon on Thursday. They will then head to the Stewart Center, where they will face USF and UMary on Friday. Finally, they will play Upper Iowa on Saturday to round out their non-conference slate.
 
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:

Date/Time/Location: #6 Washburn on September 4 at 3 PM MST in the Sanford Pentagon
Sioux Falls: Friday, September 5 at 12 PM MST.
UMary: Friday, September 5 at 3 PM MST.
Upper Iowa: Saturday, September 6 at 9 AM MST.
All games on Friday and Saturday will be played in the Stewart Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Tickets: Tickets can be purchased at the link above. It will be $15 for an adult for each day and will be $10 per day for a youth (ages 13-18). The ticket will provide access to all games that day.
NSIC Network: You can tune in to all Sioux Falls Volleyball Classic games on the NSIC Network. The NSIC Network partnered with Midco Sports which requires a monthly subscription to watch games. You can purchase those monthly subscriptions at the link above. The subscriptions start at $15 a month.
 
BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES:

• Black Hills State is now 2-2 entering the second non-conference tournament. BHSU were able to grab wins over MSU-Billings and Western New Mexico in the Marauders First Serve Invitational, while falling to UMary in five sets and Bemidji State in three.
• The Yellow Jackets entered the season fresh off a season where they had the most wins in a season since 2021 and the most conference wins since 2022. The Yellow Jackets went 6-20 (2-12 RMAC) last season. They went 3-1 in the 1^st International Bank Homecoming Classic before entering RMAC play and pulled out two wins over Chadron, one of them in the regional pod, and a win over Western Colorado in regular conference play.
• BHSU has gone 3-1 in one of their regular season tournaments in each of the last three seasons, and this will be the second of two chances this year to keep that streak rolling. The Yellow Jackets went 0-4 in the opening tournament last year, before going 3-1 in their second tournament. They went 2-2 at the opening tourney this year.
• The Green and Gold played in two five set matches going 1-1 this season in such matches. BHSU went 2-2 in five setters last year and are 40-41 since joining D2 in matches that go five sets.
• The Yellow Jackets are ranked top 100 in three categories after the first weekend. They are 63^rd in hitting percentage (.239), 75^th in team kills (184), and 89^th in team assists (164).
• The Yellow Jackets are featuring a pretty new team this year. They are only bringing back three players who started 15 or more games last year and only have five that started more than ten. They graduated five key seniors for the team last year and are bringing in six freshman and one transfer.
• BHSU was projected to finish 14^th in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll with 43 points, just ahead of Chadron State and one point behind Western Colorado.
• Izzy Saiki was the top player for BHSU in the first weekend of games. The senior from Thronton, Colo. has started a combined seven games in her career, and has now matched her career-high in starts after one weekend. Saiki led BHSU in kills, kills per set, points, and aces. She had 49 kills, 3.06 kills per set, 57.0 points, and seven aces. She also was second in digs (30) and third in hitting percentage (.304). She is ranked fifth in the conference in total kills and seventh in aces. Saiki had a career-high 20 kills versus Western New Mexico, career-high 20 points versus WNMU, and career high three aces versus MSU-Billings.
• Carsyn Mettler, the senior from Rapid City, was another top hitter for BHSU this past week. She was second on the team in kills (41), second on the team in hitting percentage (.307), and third on the team in total blocks (6). Mettler had two double-digit kill games versus UMary and WNMU where she had 14 and 12 kills respectively. Mettler had 15 total points versus UMary. Against MSU-Billings, she had a season-high .350 hitting percentage, and had a hitting percentage above .300 for three out of four games.
• Elena Atkinson and Emma Kruger were almost identical this weekend as the setter pair combined for 145 assists with Atkinson getting the slight edge 79-66 over the first weekend. Atkinson averaged 4.94 assists per set, while Kruger averaged 4.13. The former had a .407 set percentage to the latter's .367. Atkinson's best game came against Western New Mexico, where she had 33 assists, which the second most in her entire career. She had a .407 set percentage, which was the second-best on the weekend, only behind MSUB, where she had a .514 set percentage. Kruger's best game came against MSUB, she only had 19 assists, but had a .475 set percentage, compare to a .359 set percentage versus UMary with 23 assists. Atkinson is ranked eighth in total assists in the RMAC.
• Keira Thompson was the sole libero for BHSU this past weekend. The junior from Lakewood, Colo. who is in her second season as a Yellow Jacket started all four games at libero for BHSU and finished with 53 digs. She averaged 3.31 digs per set and had a career-high 17 digs versus UMary. She reached double-digit digs in three of the four games and had 15 or more in two of the four. She also added seven assists, two aces (both versus WNMU), and two kills.
• Zoie Husman was a new face in the starting lineup in Bismarck. After serving last year as a serve specialist, Husman started all four games for BHSU this past weekend and finished with 38 kills, which was third on the team. Husman had 2.38 kills per set, four aces, and 117 total receptions to go along with four blocks. She was third on the team in total points, digs (29), aces, and kills per set. She had nine kills and a .381 hitting percentage versus the Yellowjackets, however, her best game of the year came versus Western New Mexico, where she had her first double-double of her career with 17 kills and 13 digs. The 17 kills were a career-high by over ten kills. She also had a career-high 19.5 points versus WNMU as well as three total blocks, which was her third career-high in that one game.
• Izabel Abril had a strong first weekend as she finished with 24 kills and a team-high eight total blocks with one solo block and seven assisted blocks. Abril had eight kills in each of her first two games, including a .385 hitting percentage versus MSUB and also had seven kills for WNMU. She had a block in all four games this weekend including 3.0 total blocks versus UMary. She added three assists and four digs.
• Peyton McLeod had a solid opening weekend too. She led BHSU with a .366 hitting percentage while putting up 21 kills and seven total blocks with one solo block and six assisted. McLeod had an excellent first day of play with 15 kills with a 714 hitting percentage and no attack errors in two games.
• Head coach Grayson DuBose enters his second season with the Yellow Jackets and has a BHSU record of 8-22 (2-12 RMAC) but has 14 years of head coaching experience at the D1 level prior to joining BHSU. He was head coach at Utah State for all 14 years and has a 197-255 career record with two WAC Coach of the Year awards and one NCAA Division 1 Tournament appearance.

 
#6 WASHBURN STORYLINES

• Washburn came into the season ranked #8 in the AVCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. After going 4-0 in the first weekend, they have moved up to #6. The Ichabods were the six seed in last year's NCAA Tournament and pulled off an upset win over Wayne State to advance to the round of 32 before falling to Concordia-St. Paul.
• The Ichabods faced four teams at their home tournament where they defeated Oklahoma Christian, Arkansas Tech, William Jewell, and Westminster. They won three out of four games in four sets and took all three sets versus Arkansas Tech.
• Washburn is already one of the top ranked schools this year and the stats back it up. The Ichabods are ranked top 20 in the country in ten different stats after the first weekend. They are ranked first in win/loss percentage (1.00), seventh in kills per set (15.07), eighth in assists per set (13.87), tenth in team assists (208), tenth in team kills (226), 12^th in digs per set (18.4), 14^th in team digs (276), 16^th in total blocks (37.0), and 20^th in blocks per set.
• The Ichabods were placed in a tie for first with Nebraska-Kearney in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll. They earned 134 points and five first place votes. They finished tied with Kearney and Missouri Wester for the MIAA regular season title last year.
• Emma Siron was the top player for Washburn through the first weekend. The Central Missouri transfer who was a First-Team All-MIAA selection last year. She transferred to Washburn this year and started her Ichabod career with 58 kills, 4.14 kills per set, 67 points, 4.79 points per set, a .307 hitting percentage, and 37 digs. She was ranked 14^th in the country in points per set, 18^th in kills per set, and 29^th in total kills. She had 20 kills versus Oklahoma Christian, 17 versus Arkansas Tech, and 13 versus Westminster. That performance earned her MIAA Offensive Athlete of the Week.
• Shannon Frakes is the sole setter for Washburn this year. She had an impressive start to her season finishing with 162 assists in four games and averaging 11.57 assists per set with a .419 set percentage. Frakes earned MIAA Setter of the Week in week one after this performance as she ranks sixth in the country in assists per set and tenth in total assists. She also led her team in digs with 52. Frakes had over 30 assists in all four matches at the Washburn Invitational. She had a career 48 assists versus Westminster and had three double-doubles including 15 digs versus WU and 19 digs and 47 assists versus Oklahoma Christian.
• Brooklyn Morrissey was the top middle for Washburn this past weekend. She had 20 total blocks this past weekend with three solo blocks and 17 assisted blocks. She also added 37 kills. She averaged 1.33 blocks per set and didn't have one block error. Morrissey was ranked 19^th in the country in total blocks and 25^th in blocks per set. She had at least three blocks in each game and had seven versus William Jewell. The seven blocks was the second-highest block game of her career.
• Brynne Topolski, the junior from Lincoln, Neb., was the second part of the outside tandem for Washburn. She also reached the 50-mark last weekend with 51 kills. She had 3.64 kills per set and a .298 hitting percentage with 11 total blocks. She was ranked top 70 in kills and kills per set in the country. She earned All-MIAA Second Team last year and continued her strong career this past weekend with double-digit kills in all four games including 18 versus Oklahoma Christian. She also had 21 digs versus OC, which was her first double-double of the year.
• Head coach Chris Herron is entering his 25^th season with Washburn this year. He has a career 651-145 record and a 319-88 MIAA mark. He has made it to 19 NCAA Tournaments, seven MIAA Titles, and was inducted into the Washburn Athletics HOF last year. He has coached at least one All-American in 22 of 25 seasons as the head coach.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• BHSU met Washburn one time since joining Division II in 2015 and fell in that matchup 3-1 (19-25, 28-26, 18-25, 10-25).

 
SIOUX FALLS STORYLINES

• Sioux Falls received 11 votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll and after losing their opening game to Northwest Nazarene before winning their next three to Cal State San Marcos, Cal State Monterey Bay, and Dominican (Calif.), they fell out of the poll altogether. The Cougars sit at 3-1 with their only loss being that five set loss to NNU.
• UMary went 8-2 at home last year with #2 Concordia St. Paul and #7 Wayne State being their only losses.
• The Cougars are ranked top ten in the country in three categories. They are seventh in team assists (218), ninth in hitting percentage (.326), and ninth in team kills (229).
• After finishing fifth last year, Sioux Falls was picked to finish fifth this year with 158 points, just ahead of Minnesota State and just behind Southwest Minnesota State.
• Sioux Falls graduated four starters this past season and will be featuring a younger team than in years past.
• So far, Haley Wolfe has been one of the bright spots of the new age for Sioux Falls. The senior middle blocker is ranked third in hitting percentage in the country with a .536 hitting percentage and is ranked 30^th in total blocks (18) and 66^th in blocks per set with 1.13. Wolfe also was fourth on the team with 39 kills. Wolfe had at least three blocks in each match including a season-high six versus CSMB. Wolfe had 14 kills versus NNU with four blocks.
• Bre Van Den Top is the top outside for the Cougars so far. The freshman outside from Sergeant Bluff, Iowa had 47 kills over the first weekend. She reached double-digits in kills in all four game with a career-high 13 kills versus Northwest Nazarene. She also has ten total blocks and 14 digs. She had a career-high five blocks versus Dominican. She also had a .402 hitting percentage and did not have lower than a .350 hitting percentage in any game last weekend.
• Hollie Peterson is the top setter for USF through four games. She has 105 assists, which ranks tenth in the NSIC. She averaged 6.56 assists per set and has a team high six aces. She also has 27 digs. The sophomore setter from Sioux City, Iowa had over 20 assists in all four games at the CSU-Monterey Bay Tournament, including 34 versus NNU and 27 versus CSU-MB. She also had 13 digs versus Dominican, which is a season high.
• Ella Walker is the number two middle blocker for Sioux Falls. She had 42 kills, which was second on the team and 11 blocks, which was also second on the team. Walker was chosen as the player to watch in the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll release. She had 13 kills versus CSU-MB and six total blocks versus the Nighthawks. She had at least one block in every game.
• Dan Matthews is in the midst of his sixth season as head coach of USF and has an overall record of 83-58 (59-37 NSIC). He has four winning season and three NSIC Tournament appearances.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• In the D2 era, BHSU has only faced the Cougars twice. Once in 2017 and the other in 2024. The Yellow Jackets are 0-2 in such matchups and have not won a set versus the Cougars.
• Their most recent meeting came in 2024 in A2 Arena, where USF beat BHSU in straight sets.

 
UMARY STORYLINES

• UMary is coming off a solid home tournament, where they took two out of four and started the season 2-2. After beating MSUB in four sets, they fell to Bemidji State in five sets. They were able to beat BHSU in five sets in game three of the tournament before ending their home tourney with a loss to Western New Mexico in four.
• UMary went 3-5 in neutral site games last season including a win over BHSU in Chadron and wins over the Yellowjackets of MSUB and Brandon (CAN) in Minot.
• UMary proved themselves in a couple stats. They rank top 30 in two different stats. The Marauders rank 18^th in team assists (200), and 29^th in team kills (204).
• After finishing last year in 14^th place in the NSIC, UMary was kept in 14^th in the NSIC Preseason Poll. They earned 40 points, just behind Bemidji State and ahead of Crookston.
• UMary has four key returners that started every game they played last year. The first is Holli Klettheimer. Klettheimer, a junior middle blocker from Frankton, Ind., was named the Player to Watch for the Marauders in the NSIC Preseason Poll article and was one of the top middles in the NSIC this past weekend. Klettheimer had 14 total blocks, which was third in the conference. She had five blocks versus Montana State-Billing and Western New Mexico. She had a block in every game and three or more in three games. She also had 37 kills and two games with double-digit kills versus BHSU and WNMU.
• Judith Burke, a junior outside from Eagle, Idaho, had a great start to the season with a team high 53 kills this weekend, which was ranked fourth in the NSIC and 48^th in the country. She also had 29 digs. Burke had double-digit kills in three of the four matches including 18 in the game versus BHSU. She had her first double-double of the season with 15 kills and 10 digs versus MSUB. She also had a .400 hitting percentage in that game.
• Natalie Boehmer is the top setter returning to the Marauders this year. Boehmer, a junior setter from Horicon, Wis., had a fantastic opening weekend that put her in some insane categories. Boehmer currently ranks second in the entire nation in assists with 182. She ranks 28^th in assists per set with 10.11. She had 40 assists or more in three games and the fourth, she had 39 assists. Her top game of the weekend was against BHSU, where she had 55 assists. She also had double-digit digs in three of four games including 11 versus WNMU.
• Dani Highum was the other part of the outside tandem for UMary, did a bunch of everything for the Marauders at their home tournament. She finished with 42 kills, 10 aces, which led the team, 52 digs, which was second on the team, and five blocks. She had double digit kills in the first three games of the weekend with 12 against the Yellowjackets. She then had 21 digs versus BHSU. She had at least ten digs in three of the four games.
• Rob Frost enters his second year at UMary after taking over last February, but he has 11 seasons of experience and a 250-108 career record. He has a record at UMary of 8-24.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• In the D2 era, BHSU is 7-3 versus Mary with the three losses coming in three of the past four games. BHSU won each of the first six games to begin the D2 era versus the Marauders. Of the games we know, BHSU is 10-12 versus UMary.
• Last year, BHSU and UMary met twice. UMary took the first one, before the Green and Gold struck back and took game two in five sets. Carsyn Mettler led BHSU in kills with 15, Zoie Husman had six aces, and Elena Atkinson had 20 assists.
• The two teams met just last weekend and UMary took that matchup in a back-and-forth match. The match went five sets (25-16, 16-25, 20-25, 25-19, 9-15) with BHSU winning the first and fourth sets.

 
UPPER IOWA STORYLINES

• Upper Iowa is sitting at 3-1 after taking three quarters of their games at the Union University Volleyball Classic in Jackson, Tenn. The Peacocks earned wins over Lane College, Auburn Montgomery, and Union, while falling to Tusculum. They played 18 sets this past weekend with their sole loss being a five-set loss. They had a five set win versus AUM, with the other two matches being four-set wins.
• The Peacocks were horrible in neutral site games last year, going 2-11 in such games. They are 2-1 this year so far.
• UIU is ranked top 25 in five categories after the opening tourney this year. They are ranked 12^th in team kills (221), 16^th in team assists (203), 18^th in team total attacks (593), 20^th in team aces (38), and 23^rd in team digs (262).
• Upper Iowa was picked to finish 13^th in the GLVC Preseason Coaches' Poll out of the 14 team conference. They received 31 points, just ahead of William Jewell, and just behind Southwest Baptist.
• Grace Fruzen has been one of the top players for the Peacocks so far. The junior setter from Manitowoc, Wis. Has been one of the best setters in the country with 125 assists in the opening weekend, which is 53^rd in the country and fifth in the GLVC. She had at least 20 assists in three out of four games that included 51 in their loss to Tusculum. She also had 18 digs in that game and then 13 digs versus Union. She added seven kills in that Union game as well.
• Morgan Block has been one of the top liberos in the country. The junior from Sumner, Iowa is ranked 14^th in digs per set (5.43) in the country, and 24^th in total digs (76). After not playing in the opening matchup, she joined the lineup in game two and had 29 digs versus Tusculum. She followed that up with 23 versus AUM and 24 versus Union. She added 16 assists.
• Kailey Porter has been the top hitter for UIU so far with a team-leading 48 kills. She is averaging 2.82 kills per set with a .438 hitting percentage. That hitting percentage puts her at 37^th in the country. Defensively, she is second on the Peacocks with seven blocks. She had 16 total kills in both of UIU's five-set matches and then had eight kills in the other two. She had a season-high three blocks in each of her first two matchups and then had one versus Union. She had at least a .300 hitting percentage in all four games, with a .556 hitting percentage versus Tusculum.
• Sarah Hull is now the full time head coach after serving as the interim for part of last season. This will be Hull's first full season as head coach. During her interim season, she went 7-9 and now sits at 10-10 in her career.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• This will only be the second meeting of the D2 era between these teams. The last time these two teams met was in 2014 with Upper Iowa taking a 3-0 win (20-25, 18-25, 19-25). This will be a chance for BHSU to even up the series.