SIOUX FALLS – For their final regular season weekend road trip, University of Sioux Falls Volleyball wraps up a three-match Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road swing in Minnesota. The Cougars (13-8, 8-8 NSIC) face St. Cloud State (15-11, 7-9 NSIC) at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3 in St. Cloud, Minn. before closing the weekend at No. 9 Minnesota Duluth (20-4, 13-3 NSIC) on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m.
 
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For all USF Volleyball home matches and all Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contests, watch the Cougars live on Stretch Internet at USFCougars.com/watch. Live stats will be available for all matches. Links to home match live stats are available at USFCougars.com/livestats while links to all road match live stats are available on the USF Volleyball schedule at USFCougars.com.
 
Playoff picture
With four matches remaining, USF is in ninth place of the NSIC standings and the top eight teams earn bids to the NSIC Tournament. The Cougars are one match behind Augustana, Upper Iowa and Wayne State, who all have 9-7 record in conference play. Augustana and Wayne State play the same four opponents as USF in the final two weekends, including top 10 ranked Minnesota Duluth and three teams currently out of the NSIC top nine. Upper Iowa will also face three teams not in the top nine of the league standings, but will face No. 7 Northern State in the final weekend of the season. Four teams (Concordia-St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota State, Northern State and Minnesota Duluth) have already secured a spot in the eight-team NSIC Tournament field while Winona State needs one win to lock up the fifth bid.
 
Series Histories
                St. Cloud State – USF leads 5-2
Sioux Falls looks to complete the season sweep of St. Cloud State and extend their lead in the series. The Cougars pushed their series record to 5-2 with a four-set win over the Huskies on Sept. 30 this season. The Cougars captured the first meeting between the programs with a home sweep of SCSU in 2012. USF rolled to a 3-0 victory on the road last season and have won the two most recent matches, including this year's victory. Bria Barfnecht had a career night in the win this season, putting down 19 kills while posting 17 digs. USF is 2-1 against St. Cloud State in road matches, dropping the 2014 contest.
 
Minnesota Duluth – UMD leads 8-1
Seeking to replicate the program's marquee win from a year ago, Sioux Falls head to Minnesota Duluth with a 1-8 record against the Bulldogs. Last year, the Cougars defeated Minnesota Duluth in five sets when they were ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Division II Coaches' Poll. However, that has been the only win for USF in the nine-match series, which includes a five-set loss in the first round of the NSIC Tournament in 2014. This season, USF lost a slugfest with Minnesota Duluth as both teams hit above. 325 for the match, with Makenna Rockeman's 10 kills leading USF. On the road, the Cougars are 1-4 against Minnesota Duluth.
 
 
Cougars maintain spot in top 25 poll receiving votes section
The reputation USF earned from defeating top 25 teams in Augustana and Winona State has continued to earn them points in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll. USF picked up nine points in the poll, which was enough for USF to appear in the also receiving votes section of the release. With Upper Iowa jumping into the top 25, eight NSIC teams appeared in the Week 9 poll, including four in the top 10.
 
Milestone Watch: Rockeman five kills away from 1,000 at USF
Junior outside hitter Makenna Rockeman nearly reached the 1,000-kill milestone when she put down 19 kills against Southwest Minnesota State on Tuesday. Her team-high kills brought her career total to 995, just five from becoming the second member of USF's 1,000-kill club since the Cougars joined the NCAA Division II ranks. A week ago, she passed former teammate and current graduate assistant Jordan Calef for second in USF's D2 record books and she is closing in on current record holder Emily Tolkamp (Johnson), who had 1,094 kills at USF. A native of Broomfield, Colo., Rockeman is averaging 3.54 kills per set this season and has 276 total terminations this year.
 
After picking up 13 digs against SMSU on Tuesday, senior libero Janelle Lam moved slightly closer to reaching 1,000 in her career. Currently, the Apple Valley, Minn. native sits at 924 digs in her career, an average of 2.44 per set in her four years at USF. This year, Lam is averaging 4.38 digs per set and with a conservative estimate of 12 more sets left in the regular season, Lam would reach 976 for her career total. Lam's current total of 924 digs is second in USF's Division II era.
 
Cougars picked seventh in NSIC preseason poll
Tying for their highest preseason projections in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, USF Volleyball was picked to finish seventh in the NSIC preseason coaches' poll, which was released just before fall camp started. The Cougars collected 146 points in the poll, their highest total since joining the league in 2012.  The seventh-place billing ties their place in the 2014 preseason poll.
 
Reigning national champion Concordia-St. Paul was picked as the league favorite, collecting 10 first-place votes and 218 points. Southwest Minnesota State earned three first-place votes, placing them second overall, Minnesota Duluth received two first-place nods for third place and Augustana picked up the final first-place vote to put them in fourth.
 
Leader of the Pride: McCartney captures 100th victory at USF in seventh season
USF Volleyball head coach Joel McCartney enters his seventh season at the helm of the program. Building a competitor in the NSIC, the top Division II volleyball conference, McCartney has built a 110-103 record in his time at USF. In 20 years of coaching collegiate volleyball, he owns a 456-262 record, and a very successful six-year stint at NCAA Division I Winthrop earned him a spot in the Winthrop Hall of Fame. McCartney has taken the Cougars to the NSIC Tournament – top eight teams in the standings qualify – in three of five years as members of the conference. In 2016, he led the Cougars to an upset of No. 1 Minnesota Duluth on the road and he defeated top-25 ranked Northern State twice. He has coached players to five All-NSIC honors and three NSIC Player of the Week awards. McCartney is assisted by his wife and associate head coach Andrea McCartney, and graduate assistant Jordan Calef.