SIOUX FALLS – Kicking off conference competition after more than a week off, University of Sioux Falls begins the tough opening slate of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action. The Cougars (5-0, 0-0 NSIC) travel to No. 17 Wayne State (5-3, 0-0 NSIC) on Thursday, Sept. 14 for both teams' conference openers at 6 p.m. in Wayne, Neb. To close their first week of conference competition, USF hosts crosstown rival, No. 9 Augustana, on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 3 p.m. at the Stewart Center.
 
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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.
 
Cougars top Texas A&M-Kingsville in five sets to finish non-conference slate undefeated
With the Saint Leo Invitational cancelled due to Hurricane Irma, USF Volleyball's final non-conference match was a five-set victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville last Wednesday. With the victory, the Cougars finished their non-conference schedule unbeaten and head into NSIC play with a 5-0 record. Fueling the Cougars' first five-set win of the season was junior right-side hitter Bria Barfnecht. The Delano, Minn. native racked up 17 kills and a career-high 18 digs. The Cougar offense featured four hitters with double-digit kills as Makenna Rockeman (13), Averey Yaksich (11), and Lexi Scott (10) all joining Barfnecht with 10-plus terminations. Setter Megan Hamstad dished out 55 assists, her second-straight match with 50-plus assists, and libero Janelle Lam recorded her fifth straight match with double-digit digs with 11.
 
Where the Cougars stack up in the NSIC
Heading into the first week of NSIC regular season competition, USF has some of the top statistics marks in the top Division II volleyball conference. Defensively, USF's opponent hitting percentage of .108 is the top mark in the league. With 2.42 blocks per set, USF is second only to Wayne State as the top net defense. The Cougars have combined to hit .267 in their five matches, wanking fourth in the NSIC, while their kills (14.11/set) and assists averages (13.39/set) rank fifth in the league.
 
Individually, several Cougars own spots in the top 10 of the NSIC's rankings. Lexi Scott is third in the conference with a hitting percentage of .430 and an average of 1.17 blocks per set. One spot behind Scott is fellow middle blocker Abby Feyereisen, who is averaging 1.11 blocks per frame. The NSIC defensive player of the week from week one, Janelle Lam, is fifth in the league with 5.17 digs per set. Bria Barfnecht, USF's leader in kills with 61 kills, is averaging 4.06 points per set, the eighth-most in the league.
 
Quick out of the gates
With a 5-0 record to start the season, USF is already off to their second-best start since joining NCAA Division II in 2012. The Cougars won their season opener for the fourth time as a D2 program and recorded a win in their first home match for the fourth time. USF's longest win streak to start the season in their Division II era is eight matches, when they opened the season 8-0 and went on to finish with a 13-16 overall record in the 2014 season.
 
Series History: Wayne State
Since joining the NSIC in 2012, USF and Wayne State have squared off five times and WSC has earned five victories. The Wildcats are just two teams that USF has not beat since joining the 16-team league. Four of the five matches have been finished in three sets and USF's first-set win in 2015 at WSC was the only set they've taken off the Wildcats. USF is 0-2 in matches hosted by the Wildcats. Wayne State, who is coached by Scott Kneifl in his 13th season, has held a top-25 ranking each time they have played the Cougars and been in the top 10 three of the past four matches with USF. This week, the Wildcats are ranked 17th in the AVCA Coaches' Poll.
 
Series History: Augustana
In five years of regular competition with crosstown rival Augustana since the Cougars joined the NSIC in 2012, USF is 2-3 against the Vikings. Augustana won the first Division II match in three sets before the Cougars took the next two contests in five sets each. Seizing the lead in the series, Augustana has won the past two matchups, taking a 3-0 victory in 2015 and a 3-1 decision last season after the Cougars took the second set. Augustana has been ranked in the top 25 in the past three matchups, including No. 20 when USF defeated the Vikings in 2014, and this week, the Vikings enter with the No. 9 ranking in the AVCA Coaches' Poll. Jennifer Jacobs leads Augustana in her first season as the head coach of the Vikings.
 
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.
 
Barfnecht named preseason player to watch
After an impressive sophomore campaign, right-side hitter Bria Barfnecht was named USF's player to watch in the preseason release. A 5-foot-10 junior from Delano, Minn., Barfnecht heads into her junior campaign with the second-highest attack percentage, second-most blocks, and third-most kills among returners for the Cougars. She connected on 248 kills (2.36 per set) at a .279 attack percentage last season. Defensively, Barfnecht was extremely impressive from her right-side position, blocking 84 total attempts, third on the Cougars last season and just 18 behind the middle blockers. In her career, she has 451 kills with a .273 attack percentage and 162 total blocks. Barfnecht had a blistering start to the season when she earned tournament MVP honors for the 2016 Country Inn & Suites Invitational with 39 kills on a .370 attack percentage and 12 total blocks.
 
Rockeman and Scott round out talented junior trio
As the youngest USF Volleyball players to earn all-conference honors as sophomores last season, Makenna Rockeman and Lexi Scott begin their junior seasons as the anchors of USF's bid for a second straight trip to the NSIC Tournament and fourth in five years. A 6-foot outside hitter from Broomfield, Colo., Rockeman was a workhorse for the Cougars, taking a third of the attack attempts and finishing with a team-high 402 kills. Her 3.83 kills per set and 4.45 points per set ranked third in the deep NSIC.  She picked up 208 digs, highest among returners for the Cougars, and she posted six double-doubles. Rockeman figures to record her 1,000th kill as a junior after posting 719 in her first two seasons and her name is already littered throughout the USF Division II record books.
 
A 6-foot-1 middle blocker from Prinsburg, Minn., Scott has been a force in the middle for the Cougars, splaying in every match over the past two seasons. In her sophomore season that earned her second-team All-NSIC honors, Scott posted 303 kills at a .363 clip, which ranked her sixth in the NSIC and 20th in NCAA Division II. Complementing her offense, she returns as USF's top net defender, recording 102 total blocks, including a team-high 16 solo stuffs. Her 0.97 blocks per set ranked fifth. Scott earned NSIC Offensive Player of the Week honors for just the second time since the Cougars joined the league. Entering her junior season, Scott has 452 kills at .285 attack percentage, which ranks third in USF's Division II era. She is fourth in the USF annals with 189 total blocks and her average of 0.98 blocks per set is second only to former standout and current USF Volleyball graduate assistant Jordan Calef.
 
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 102-95 record in his time at USF. In 20 years of coaching collegiate volleyball, he owns a 448-253 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 of NSIC Player of the Week awards. McCartney is assisted by his wife and associate head coach Andrea McCartney, and graduate assistant Jordan Calef.