Volleyball | 11/11/2021 9:25:00 AM

BURNSVILLE, Minn. –  Seniors Averey Yaksich and Krista Goerger as well as freshman Jordan Kuper of the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team have been named to the All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Volleyball Team, according to an announcement today by the league office. For fourth straight year, the Cougars have had two or more student-athletes named to the All-NSIC squad.
 
With two home matches to go, including Senior Night on Saturday vs Minnesota Crookston at the Stewart Center, the Cougars have a 15-11 record and sit 10-8 in league play with an opportunity to make the NSIC Tournament.  For the second time in school history, USF placed two players on the 18-member All-NSIC first team in Yaksich, an outside hitter, and Goerger, a setter. Kuper, a middle blocker, was named second team. It is the first All-NSIC honor for Goerger and Kuper while Yaksich was named for the second team. Yaksich and Goerger earned first team honors for the first time.

 

Yaksich, a senior from Omaha, Neb., has had a special year and is one of the best outside hiters in the league. In 2021, Yaksich has been one of the league's, if not NCAA DII's top hitters.  She has 417 kills on the season, which is a school record with two matches to play. She is now the sixth player in USF history to reach the 800 kill mark with 932 and 36 away from fifth on USF's career list (Jordan Calef, 968, 2013-16. 

A psychology major who was named Academic All-NSIC in 2020, Yaksich leads the NSIC and ranks seventh in DII in kills/set at 4.48 and is first in the league and fifth in DII in total kills this season. At her current pace, she will break USF's record for season kills per set. In addition, Yaksich has already set a five-set match record at USF with 30 kills and owns the three-set mark with 22 against nationally-ranked Wayne State. She has 23 matches of double-digit kills this season, including 17 in a row. She has recorded 20 kills six times this year. Additionally, Yaksich is third all-time at USF in attacks for a season with 1,023. In DII, she ranks 30th and is second in the league. In addition, Yaksich has the league's most points at 5.11 overall (5.39 in league play) which ranks fourth nationally.

"Averey's NSIC performance this year was spectacular.  At 339.5 total points (NSIC matches) and over 5.39 points/set with two matches still remaining, Averey scored more than any other player in the league.  She was the only NSIC outside hitter to attack above .300 and she had more blocks than any other player in her position.  She not only carried an incredible offensive burden this year, but she did so with incredible efficiency and without any need for recognition. It was an remarkably selfless performance," said USF Head Coach Dan Mathews.

Setter of the Week Krista Goerger leads the Cougars with 988 set assists so far. Goerger, who became USF's first-ever setter with 3,000 assists (3,306, school record) earlier this year, continues to break the USF school record for career assists every match she plays. The Mankato, Minn., native averages 10.62 assists per set for fourth in the NSIC. Goerger has the sixth-highest season total in assists and is just 12 away from being the fifth player at USF (including herself with 1,057, 2018, 2nd all-time) to reach 1K in assists in a season. She also has set the USF school record in service aces with 122. In addition, she has earned two NSIC Setter of the Week honors with three overall in her career.

Goerger became USF's first-ever First Team CoSIDA Academic All-American this summer.  She was among four of the seven members of the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division II volleyball first team with a perfect 4.00 GPA. She was honored in 2021 with the NSIC Elite 18 Award for volleyball by maintaining the highest grade point average and most completed credits among the 16 teams in the league. A three-time Academic All-NSIC performer, Goerger has also been named an NSIC Honor Scholar Athlete.

"At USF, Krista ranks first all-time in total assists, assists-per-set and services aces.  In the NSIC, she led our team to the second best attack percentage in the conference.  Individually, Krista was No. 2 total aces, No. 2 in total digs and No. 1 in total blocks this year compared to all other NSIC setters.  Most impressively, Krista ran an offense that was inarguably faster than any other NSIC offense.  She accomplished all of this while maintaining a perfect GPA for the 9^th straight semester and applying to PhD programs.  She is unbelievably accomplished," Mathews said
 

Kuper, a 6-2 middle blocker from Scotch Grove, Iowa, ranks among the league leaders in hitting percentage and blocks. An elementary education major, she has a team-high .349 hitting mark with 235 kills on 476 attacks and 69 errors. Her hitting mark is fourth in the league and 28th in DII. A dominant force in the middle, she has 17 block solos and 94 block assists for a total of 111 in 93 sets. She is averaging 1.19 blocks per set, which ranks third in the NSIC and 19th in DII.  Twice this season, Kuper has registered a rare double double in kills and blocks. Kuper, who averages 3.22 kills/set, has 12 matches with double-digit kills and a high of 15 this year against MSU Moorhead.

"In the entire 2021 NSIC volleyball season, only one middle blocker scored more points than Jordan Kuper, and no one had more total blocks.  Jordan is a hammer offensively, and there were matches this season where the only way to stop her was to serve her out of the offense.  She is one of those rare players who is unassuming off the court, but has a real vendetta once she begins to compete.  My favorite thing about coaching Jordan is her unrelenting supportiveness towards her teammates," Mathews said.