For Immediate Release
Monday, November 8, 2021
NSIC Media Relations
Media Packet

NSIC Offensive Player of the Week
#4 Linsey Rachel (OH, 5-8, Sr., Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake HS) - St. Cloud State 
- Averaging 4.55 kills and 3.00 digs per set in wins over Bemidji State, Sioux Falls and #14 SMSU
- Hit .376 with 50 total kills and added 33 digs, one ace and four block assists
- Recorded a match-leading 19 kills in St. Cloud State’s 3-1 win over #14 SMSU
- Added 12 digs for a double-double and a season-high four block assists
- Hit .433 with 16 kills and 14 digs in the Huskies 3-1 win over Sioux Falls
- Opened the week by hitting .464 with a match-leading 15 kills in a sweep of BSU
- Helped SCSU clinched at least a share of its first NSIC Regular Season Title since 1982
- Named NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row

NSIC Defensive Player of the Week
#10 Becca Pagel (L, 5-5, Gr., Sumner, Iowa / Sumner-Fredricksburg HS) - Winona State
- Recorded 55 total digs, good for a 6.11 dig per set average
- Registered a .939 reception percentage while handling 33 total chances 
- Led the team with eight service aces
- Named NSIC Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season

NSIC Setter of the Week
#14 Maddy Torve (S, 5-11, R-Sr., Loretto, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) -St. Cloud State
- Averaging a season and NSIC high 13.09 assists per set in three wins last week
- Recorded 144 total assists while guiding the Huskies to a .292 team hitting percentage 
- Tallied a weekend-high 56 assists in St. Cloud State’s 3-1 win over Sioux Falls
- Added eight digs and three blocks in the win
- Recorded 44 assists against both Bemidji State and #14 SMSU
- Tallied a double-double against the Mustangs with 10 digs and added two blocks
- Moved within five of the 4000 career assists milestone 
- Named NSIC Setter of the Week for fourth time this season

Other Top Performances
OFFENSE
#3 Maddy Guetter (AUGIE) helped the Vikings go undefeated last week with wins against No. 14 SMSU (3-1), Minnesota Crookston (3-0), and Bemidji State (3-0). Guetter led the Vikings in the victory against SMSU accumulating 20 kills hitting .450 along with two service aces. She also had 13 digs in the match giving her a double-double with her 20 kills. Overall, Guetter averaged 4.25 points per set along with 3.50 digs per set.
#6 Jessica Nelson (MSU) led the Mavericks with 39 kills in three matches.  Against MSU Moorhead Nelson had a career high 24 kills.  She hit at a mark of .207 and started all 11 sets and averaged 3.55 kills per set. 
#5 Hailey Wathen (MINOT) turned in a career-high 15 kills in a five-set match against MSU Moorhead, and led the Beavers with 6 kills against Upper Iowa.
#19 Sally Gaul (NSU) led Northern State with 39 kills in three wins over UMary, #10 Concordia-St. Paul, and Minnesota State. She averaged 3.55 kills per set while hitting .300, and added six digs and one assist. In conference matches Gaul ranks ninth in kills per set (3.66) and tenth in hitting percentage (.310).
#9 Averey Yaksich (USF), the league leader in kills (417) and kills/set 4.48, had a remarkable three-match performance as USF Volleyball was 1-2, including a win over No. 13 Wayne State. She had 56 kills on 117 attacks and hit .402 in the matches. In that span, she averaged 5.60 kills per set and had a double-double. She had six block assists and three aces while scoring 62.5 points or 6.20/set. In the process Yaksich set a USF school season mark in kills with 417 with two matches to play. She recorded two matches with 20 or more kills. In the win over No. 13 Wayne State (3-0 sweep), she had 22 kills on 40 attacks with two errors and hit .500. She hit .348 with 21 kills on 46 attacks with five errors against No. 12 SCSU and hit .355 with 13 kills on 31 attacks with two errors against UMD. She totaled just nine errors in three matches while registering more than 117 attacks.
#1 Kaitlin Niedert (UIU) led the Peacocks to three-straight sweeps at home and posted 3.25 kills/set while hitting .323 with 26 kills. The senior added 7 aces, 9 digs and 5 blocks as UIU defeated No. 10 Concordia-St. Paul, UMary and Minot State. Niedert moved up to 7th all-time at UIU in career kills.
#13 Taya Beller (WSC) hit .483 and averaged 3.89 kills per set in three matches. She had 10 or more kills in all three contests. She had 14 kills and two blocks at Sioux Falls Tuesday and added 11 kills and two blocks, hitting .733 (11-0-15) in 3-0 sweep over Minnesota Crookston Saturday. She added 10 kills in Friday 3-0 sweep at Bemidji State.
#8 Megan Flom (WSU) reached the 1,000 career kill mark in a 3-0 week for the 8th ranked Winona State program. She reached 1,000 kills in a 3-0 sweep of UMary, one of three 3-0 wins in the week. She hit .412 for the week, good for 4.33 kills/set average. She had 26 total kills, along with four total blocks and accounted for 28.5 points during the week.

DEFENSE
#2 Erika Bute (AUGIE) helped the Vikings go undefeated last week with wins against No. 14 SMSU (3-1), Minnesota Crookston (3-0), and Bemidji State (3-0). She averaged 3.40 digs per set over the three matches totaling 34. Bute also ranks third in the NSIC this season with 4.68 digs per set.
#4 Tea Boeckel (MINOT) had a career-high 23 digs in a five-set match against MSU Moorhead, and led the defense for Minot State against Winona State with 6 digs, and against Upper Iowa with 8 digs.
#3 Havyn Heinz (NSU) led Northern State with 43 digs in wins over UMary, #10 Concordia-St. Paul, and Minnesota State. She averaged 3.91 digs per set, and added four assists and one kill. She also recorded five service aces, including a season high three aces against Minnesota State. Heinz ranks eighth in digs per set in conference matches, with an average of 3.87.
#12 Rossi Phebie (SCSU) led the Huskies to a 3-0 by averaging 1.82 blocks per set, including a 2.50 average in wins over Sioux Falls and #14 SMSU. She tallied 20 blocks during the week and hit .478 as a middle blocker with 36 kills on 69 swings. She recorded a season-high 12 (2 solo, 10 assists) blocks in St. Cloud State’s 3-1 win over #14 SMSU. The 12 block performance ranks sixth all-time in single-match blocks. She added eight kills in the win. She recorded a season and career-high 19 kills in the Huskies 3-1 win over Sioux Falls Saturday. She added eight blocks (1 solo, seven assists) in the win. She hit .450 in the Huskies sweep of the Beavers with nine kills on 20 swings. She led St. Cloud State to at least a share of its first NSIC Regular Season Title since 1982.

SETTER
#9 Avery Thorson (AUGIE) helped the Vikings go undefeated last week with wins against No. 14 SMSU (3-1), Minnesota Crookston (3-0), and Bemidji State (3-0). Over the three matches, she had 11 kills, 113 assists and 16 digs. Thorson also surpassed 3,000 career assists in the win against Bemidji State.
#4 Dana Schindler (MSU), in three matches this week, accumulated 101 assists for the Mavericks. She averaged almost 10 assists a set with 9.18. She ended the week with a .315 assists percentage and added 8 kills and 1 service ace.
#14 Sophia Peterson (MINOT) turned in a career-high 49 assists in a five-set match against MSU Moorhead.
#20 Keri Walker (NSU) led Northern State with 125 assists in three wins over UMary, #10 Concordia-St. Paul, and Minnesota State. She averaged 11.36 assists per set, and added 20 digs, five service aces, four kills, and four blocks. Walker reached the 1,000 career assist mark in the Wolves victory at Concordia-St. Paul. In conference matches only she ranks second in total assists (755), fourth in assists per set (11.10) and ninth in service aces per set (0.38).
#5 Krista Goerger (USF) averaged 12.10 set assists per game with 121 total assists while registering three kills, five service aces, 17 digs, and seven blocks In helping USF to a win over ranked Wayne State and a 1-2 overall record. She had 45 assists, a service ace, and three block assists in the 3-0 win over No. 13 Wayne State. She added 44 assists, four service aces, three block assists, and nine digs in a 3-1 setback to No. 12 SCSU. She had 32 assists, two digs and a block assist in a loss at UMD.
#10 Nicole Pozorski (UIU) orchestrated Upper Iowa’s attack and supported UIU’s defense with 88 assists (9.78/set) and 24 digs (2.67/set) while Upper Iowa defeated No. 10 Concordia-St. Paul, UMary and Minot State in nine sets at home last week.
#14 Rachel Walker (WSC) averaged 12.44 assists per set in three matches...had week-high 42 set assists in Friday 3-0 win at Bemidji State...produced 37 set assists with five digs and one service ace at Sioux Falls Tuesday...added 33 assists with five digs and two blocks in 3-0 win at Minnesota Crookston Saturday.
#2 Bre Maloney (WSU) was a key part of the Warriors 3-0 week in which teammate Megan Flom earned her 1,000th career kill. As a team, WSU did not drop a set while moving their overall record to 24-3 on the season. Racked up 72 total assists in six sets of action for the Warriors. Averaged 12.0 assist/set Earned a perfect 1.000 service percentage Had 25 digs and a block assist in the 3-0 Warrior week.
NSIC Volleyball Players of the Week
9/7/21
O: #8 Megan Flom  - Winona State
D: #10 Becca Pagel - Winona State
S: #14 Maddy Torve - St. Cloud State
9/13/21
O: #8 Megan Flom  - Winona State (2)
D: #7 Charisma Herr - Upper Iowa
S: #14 Rachel Walker - Wayne State
9/20/21
O: #8 Kenzie Foley - St. Cloud State
D: #12 Phebie Rossi - St. Cloud State
S: #5 Krista Goerger - Sioux Falls
9/27/21
O: #12 Phebie Rossi - St. Cloud State
D: #13 Taya Beller - Wayne State
S: #14 Maddy Torve - St. Cloud State (2)
10/4/21
O: #18 Maggie Brahmer - Wayne State
D: #7 Tori Hanson - Concordia-St. Paul
S: #5 Krista Goerger - Sioux Falls (2)
10/11/21
O: #3 Maddy Guetter - Augustana  
D: #7 Tori Hanson - Concordia-St. Paul (2)
S: #14 Rachel Walker - Wayne State (2)
10/18/21
O: #9 Maggie Streightiff - Upper Iowa
D: #7 Tori Hanson - Concordia-St. Paul (3)
S: #20 Keri Walker - Northern State
10/25/21
O: #18 Angela Young - SMSU
D: #5 Sydney Lanoue - Minnesota Duluth
S: #14 Maddy Torve  - St. Cloud State (3)
11/1/21
O: #4 Linsey Rachel  - St. Cloud State
D: #10 Becca Pagel - Winona State (2)
S:#2 Bre Maloney - Winona State
11/8/21
O: #4 Linsey Rachel  - St. Cloud State (2)
D: #10 Becca Pagel - Winona State (3)
S: #14 Maddy Torve  - St. Cloud State (4)

About the NSIC
The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The NSIC is a model Division II conference that uses high-level athletics competition to develop champions in the classroom and community while empowering student-athletes to be impactful and positive leaders. Formed in 1992 by the merger of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference (men’s league) and the Northern Sun Conference (women’s league), the NSIC has flourished over the past quarter century, maturing into a 16-team union of Upper Midwest colleges and universities. The NSIC has won 24 team national championships and crowned 81 individual national champions. For additional information, visit NorthernSun.org.

About NCAA Division II
The NCAA, the national governing body for college athletics, is a volunteer association of more than 1,000 colleges and universities that classify their athletics programs in one of three membership divisions. The 300+ institutions in NCAA Division II support a balanced approach in which student-athletes can earn scholarships based on their athletic ability, pursue their desired academic degree, and participate in all the campus and surrounding community have to offer. Division II student-athletes annually graduate at rates higher than their student body peers, and they have access to the best championships-participant ratio among the NCAA’s three divisions. Division II gives student-athletes the unique opportunity to compete in the classroom, on the field, in their career, for their causes, and on their terms. For additional information, visit NCAA.org.