SIOUX FALLS – Looking to continue their unbeaten start to the season, University of Sioux Falls Volleyball hosts Texas A&M Kingsville in a non-conference match on Wednesday, Sept. 6at 4 p.m. at the Stewart Center. Wednesday's match is the final non-conference home contest for the Cougars, who are currently undefeated after posting a 4-0 record as hosts of the Country Inns & Suites Invitational this past weekend. After Wednesday's match, the Cougars are scheduled to head to Tampa, Fla. for the Saint Leo Invitational, where they are slated for four matches on Sept. 8-9, but developments of Hurricane Irma may dictate a schedule change for USF Volleyball.
 
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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.
 
Lam's big weekend garners NSIC Defensive Player of the Week honors, a USF Volleyball first
Leading the Cougars to their undefeated start, senior libero, Janelle Lam was named the NSIC defensive player of the week on Tuesday afternoon. While it is the third weekly NSIC honor for the USF Volleyball program since they joined the league in 2012, it is the first time a Cougar volleyball player has earned the defensive distinction (Lexi Scott and Samantha Lovell both received honors for their offensive performances). Leading the tournament with 6.31 digs per set, Lam was a rock in the back row for the Cougars, picking up 16 or more digs in all four matches. The Apple Valley, Minn. native posted 18 and 16 digs against Black Hills State and Fort Hays State, respectively, to start the tournament. Both of those dig totals tied or broke her previous career high, but her performances on Saturday went beyond personal career-highs. Against William Jewell, Lam posted 23 digs in three sets, breaking the USF record for digs in a three-set match. With a new career-high heading into the tournament finale, Lam continued to lead the Cougar defense, picking up a career-best 25 digs in their four-set victory over Arkansas-Fort Smith. As a defensive specialist for three years at USF, Lam averaged 1.93 digs per set and after one week of action, she now leads the NSIC with 6.31 digs per set.
 
Quick out of the gates
With a 4-0 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.
 
Defend the land
Through the first weekend of the season, Sioux Falls has the top defense in the deep NSIC. The Cougars' .078 opponent hitting percentage is .034 better than second place, and that margin is larger than the different between second and sixth in the league that features seven teams in the latest AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll. With an average of 2.50 blocks per set, USF is second in the league and their average of 17.46 digs per set is the fourth-best mark in the league. The Cougars have held their opponents to a hitting percentage below .100 in three of their four matches and Arkansas-Fort Smith's hitting percentage of .123 is the only number above that mark. Sioux Falls has twice eclipsed double digits in blocks, posting 11.0 against Fort Hays State and 11.5 against Arkansas-Fort Smith. Individually, Janelle Lam leads the NSIC with 6.31 digs per set, more than a half-dig above second place. Lexi Scott posted three matches with five or more blocks and her average of 1.31 blocks per set is tied for third in the NSIC.
 
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 101-95 record in his time at USF. In 20 years of coaching collegiate volleyball, he owns a 447-253 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.