South Dakota State women's volleyball continues Summit League action Tuesday evening by hosting the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota at 7 p.m. at Frost Arena.

SERIES HISTORY
SDSU is 55-32 all-time against North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks have a 6-4 advantage in the last 10 meetings but the Jacks won both matches last season.

Crystal Burk paced the Jackrabbits with a double-double of 16 digs and 27 kills in the most recent match. Akeela Jefferson posted a career-high 14 kills and three service aces. Tori Thompson recorded eight kills while Carly Wedel and Madison Fay dished 27 and 20 assists, respectively. Tatum Pickar led the back row defense with 23 digs and added three aces. Anna Nerad, Thompson and Burk recorded two blocks each.

Lexi Ahrens' 20 kills led the Fighting Hawks. Peyton Sewell had 42 assists and Daian Chwialkowski had 34 digs.

SCOUTING THE FIGHTING HAWKS
UND has just one win on the year, which came against Seton Hall August 27. The team opened the Summit season last week with losses to Oral Roberts and Kansas City.

Lexi Ahrens leads UND with 133 kills, 2.71 kills per set and a .250 attack rate. She also paces the defense at the net with 60 total blocks and 1.22 per set, which ranks third in the League.

Kortney Carney and Elizabeth Norris shared the setter role for the Fighting Hawks in their most recent contest. Carney averages 3.44 assists per set and Norris averages 4.06. Madi Hart has recorded a team-high 159 digs this season. Her 3.88 per set average ranks fifth in the Summit. Maddy Hornyak is just behind her with 150 digs.

THE JACKRABBITS
Jackrabbit volleyball is 8-4 on the season and 0-1 in Summit action. Despite falling in the last two matches, SDSU has already picked up the most single-season victories for the program since 2012.
 
The Jacks' offense is powered by Crystal Burk's 177 total kills and 4.02 kills per set average, which also leads the League. Chloe Stitt also ranks in the Summit's top-10 hitters, averaging 2.86 kills per set for ninth. Ella Thompson's hitting efficiency of .306 is the best of the Jacks and ranks ninth in the Summit.
 
Ella Thompson is also ranked on the League's block list. The freshman averages 1.14 blocks per set (50 total), ranking fifth. Annalee Ventling-Brown and Carly Wedel have taken part in 31 and 24 blocks, respectively. Wedel is third on the Summit assists chart with 9.91 helpers per set. Burk, Tatum Pickar and Faith Saewert lead the Jackrabbit back row. Burk had a team-high 105 digs this season and Saewert adds 104. Pickar's 3.90 digs per set is the highest average among the SDSU squad.

LAST TIME OUT
The Jackrabbits dropped a 3-1 decision to South Dakota in the team's Summit opener last Friday evening. SDSU won the first set but lots the next three for the defeat.

Crystal Burk led the Jacks with 20 kills and nearly had a double-double, notching eight digs. Stitt and Jaydn Makovicka also had eight digs each. Tatum Pickar paced the back row with 12 digs. Hailee Blau checked in for the Jacks in set three and recorded a 1.000 attack rate with four kills on four attempts. Ella Thompson and Chloe Stitt notched six kills each.

Neither side led by more than two through the first part of set one before a 5-2 run lifted the Jackrabbits to a 13-9 lead. SDSU benefited from three Coyote errors in that time. Carly Wedel held serve for four points, pushing the Jacks' lead to 18-11.
At 21-16, the Jackrabbits put down a kill each from Crystal Burk, Ella Thompson and Chloe Stitt, putting SDSU at set point. Maddie Wiedenfeld notched back-to-back kills for the Coyotes but Thompson finished off the set with another kill for the 25-19 win.

SDSU struggled through set two, falling 25-12, but put up a fight in set three. Despite a 7-2 USD lead to start the set, the Jacks battled and trailed by just one at 16-15, forcing a USD timeout. The Coyotes went on a 5-0 run out of the timeout to go up 20-15. State battled again, coming back within just one at 23-22 before giving up the next two points.

Set four started out as a back-and-forth affair but the Coyotes managed a few scoring runs to grind out the 25-18 win.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits will go on the road to end the week with matches at Kansas City Thursday and Oral Roberts Saturday.