SIOUX FALLS— The University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team (19-9), which closed the regular season with 13 wins in 17 matches, will begin the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament as a No. 5 seed and face No. 4 seeded Concordia-St. Paul (22-7) on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m., at the Ganglehoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.
 
USF earned its highest seed ever in the NSIC Tournament after a record-tying 19-9 regular season. Directed by head coach Joel McCartney tied the program's DII win mark of 19 victories set by the 2016 and 2013 squads. USF, which established a school mark with 14 league wins (14-6), were the seventh seed in 2013 and 2016 and eighth seed in 2014. The Cougars have split with CSP this year with a 3-0 win on Oct. 27 at the Stewart Center and losing to the then No. 1 nationally ranked Golden Bears, 3-0 on Sept. 21 in St. Paul, Minn. The winner of the matchup on Tuesday will face the victor of the No. 8 Upper Iowa and No.1 Minnesota Duluth with the highest seed hosting the contest. USF is 7-5 in road matches this season.
 
For the first time in school history, USF has three All-NSIC players on the team in the same season. Bria Barfnecht, who plays opposite position, and middle blocker Lexi Scott were selected first team All-NSIC and have become USF's first-ever players on the first team. Sophomore Averey Yaksich was selected to the second team.
 
USF receives AVCA Top-25 Votes and ranked ninth in Central Region
In the most recent AVCA Top-25 list, which was released earlier today (Nov. 5), USF received votes (14) for the second consecutive week. The NSIC has four teams ranked in the top eight teams including Minnesota Duluth (fourth), Northern State (fifth), Southwest Minnesota State (seventh), and Concordia-St.Paul (eighth).

For the second straight week, USF has been ranked in the top-10 of the NCAA DII Central Region rankings, which determine what teams qualify for the national tournament. In the announcement by the NCAA Wednesday (Oct. 31), USF was ranked ninth in the Central Region.  
 
NSIC Postseason Tournament Matchups
No. 8 Upper Iowa (18-10) vs. No. 1 Minnesota-Duluth (24-5), 6 p.m., Duluth, Minn.

No. 7 Minnesota State (18-10) at No. 2 Northern State (25-3), 6 p.m., Aberdeen, S.D.

No. 6 Wayne State (22-8) at No. 3 Southwest Minnesota State (21-7). 8 p.m., Marshall, Minn.

No. 5 Sioux Falls (19-9) at No. 4 Concordia-St. Paul (22-7), 6 p.m., St. Paul, Minn.

The top four seeds host first round matches on Tuesday, November 6 with the winners advancing to the semifinal and championship rounds on Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10 in a bracketed format. There will be no reseeding following the first round matches. The highest remaining seed following the quarterfinals will host the semifinal and championship matches.
 
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Watch live
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.
 
USF offense has been a major strength
The Cougars rank third in the NSIC in hitting percentage at .278 (1434 K, 3503 A); fifth in kills (13.66 per set, 1434 total), sixth in assists per set at 12.81 (1345 in 105 sets); sixth in blocks at 2.00 per set (339 block assists and 41 block solos) and first in service aces with 175 or 1.67 per set
 
 
USF has three players in top 10 in NSIC hitting percentage
Scott leads USF in hitting percentage with a regular season clip of .393, which ranks fourth in the NSIC. Scott has been cemented in the top-10 all season, and has been a reliable hitter for the Cougars. Barfnecht ranks fifth in the NSIC with a .388 hitting percentage. Barfnecht led USF this season in kills (248) and total attempts (497). Abby Feyereisen has had an efficient junior season, accumulating a .351 hitting percentage, which ranks ninth in the conference.
 
For the first time in school history, USF has three of the top five all-time kills leader on the same team in school history. USF is led by senior Makenna Rockeman with the all-time mark 1,273. She is followed on the list by fellow seniors Bria Barfnecht, who is third with 1,041 and senior Lexi Scott who is fifth at 979.
 
The USF team leader in assists this season is sophomore setter Krista Goerger with 975 (10.26 assists/set), which ranks seventh in the NSIC. Goerger also ranks second in the conference in service aces with 0.45 aces per set.
 
Junior Kasandra Springer leads the USF defense in digs averaging 3.26 digs per set, which ranks 20^th in the NSIC.
 
Yaksich leads the USF offense in total attempts on the season with 756 on the season. Yaksich has accumulated 263 kills (third on the team) for a regular season hitting percentage of .217.
 
 Series History
                Vs. Concordia-St.Paul – CSP leads 9-1
Heading into Tuesday's match with Concordia-St. Paul, the Cougars look to build off of their first win against the Division II juggernaut Golden Bears. CSP owns a 9-1 record against the Cougars since USF joined the NSIC and NCAA Division II in 2012, starting the regular season series. Concordia-St. Paul has won three matches against USF in four sets and the other six matches in the series by a 3-0 score. At home, USF is 1-5 against the Golden Bears, with two of their three losses coming in four sets. CSP enters the match ranked No. 8 in the latest AVCA Coaches' Top 25 Poll and they have held a top-10 ranking in all 10 matches against the Cougars. During the regular season, USF split with CSP with the most recent match being USF sweep over the Golden Bears on Senior Appreciation Night. During the win, USF hit for a match hitting percentage of .456 highlighted by Barfnecht recording 15 kills of 20 attempts with zero errors for a .750 individual hitting percentage.
 
Leading the Pride
Joel McCartney took over the USF Volleyball program in July of 2011, its final year of the transition to NCAA Division II and is entering his eighth season as the program's head coach.  McCartney came to USF after a four-year rebuilding project as the head coach of the University of Georgia volleyball program. In McCartney's tenure, the Bulldogs compiled 66 overall wins including 32 in the SEC. Prior to his arrival at USF, McCartney posted a record of 344-155 while coaching at Bellevue for four years, Winthrop for six years, and Georgia for four years.
 
Under McCartney's leadership, the Cougar program has steadily climbed the competitive ladder, becoming a Top-50 power in arguably the strongest (NSIC) conference in the nation. McCartney inherited the Cougar program in its final year of the transition, and since that time, he has led the team's improvement from a ranking of 242 to a program record 29 in the PABLO Ratings Index. During McCartney's tenure at USF, the program has achieved a 131-114 record overall and a 68-72 in conference record.