North Dakota’s Pryor among college volleyball legends

MINNEAPOLIS >> Mount Rushmore is 675 miles away from Grand Forks, home to the University of North Dakota. It was a much shorter 320 miles to what Mark Pryor considers the Mount Rushmore of Volleyball.

This week’s NCAA Division I women’s volleyball championship tournament subregional has AVCA Hall of Fame coaches Dave Shoji (Hawaii) and Mick Haley (USC) as well as former U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s coach Hugh McCutcheon (Minnesota).

“And then there’s this guy named Pryor,” North Dakota’s third-year coach said. “The history of those programs is unbelievable, six national championships (combined NCAA titles for Hawaii and USC), the national runner-up finishes (Hawaii 2, USC 1, Minnesota 1) … Just the fact that we’re in with them … we’re excited.”

It was a 41⁄2hour drive here for Pryor and his Fighting Hawks in the program’s tournament debut.

The reward for winning the Big Sky Conference? Friday’s first-round match with host Minnesota, the No. 2 national seed which is 13-0 at home this season.

Pryor, whose 15 years in the trenches includes a stint with USA Volleyball, is anything but intimidated. The Fighting Hawks were at the Sports Pavilion on Sept. 16, playing in the Diet Coke Classic in the Golden Gophers’ home opener.

North Dakota and Minnesota were tied after two sets, with the Gophers eventually winning 25-12, 21-25, 25-20, 25-18.

“If we can go into the break 1-1 on Friday, the pressure won’t be in the visiting locker room,” Pryor said. “Where we are, that familiarity is huge for us.

“The second-longest (active home) winning streak was 25 at Northern Arizona and we beat them two weeks ago. Minnesota has the longest (32) and we’ll see if we can break that one. We’re going to play as loose as we can. We’re not just happy to be here.”

After earning the Big Sky’s automatic berth a week before the selection show, Pryor told his team they’d be headed to Minneapolis. Even though most of the Big Sky teams are considered in the West, UND is the anomaly and geographic bracket logic has them closer to the Midwest.

“It made too much sense,” the newly named Big Sky coach of the year said. “You can see Minnesota from our back yard.

“I told the team it was a 95 percent chance of going there, let’s enjoy it, embrace it and they have.

“One thing I believe is that the team that comes out of our subregional will be battle-tested. For Hawaii to get USC then the winner gets us or Minnesota … Someone is going to have to play against two solid teams within 24 hours.”

A look at the field according to subregional seed:

Minnesota (25-4)

The Gophers are making their second consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, 21st overall, and are 19-1 in the first round. The lone blemish was a 3-1 loss to Sacramento State in 2007. After eliminating Hawaii 3-1 in last year’s regional final, Minnesota lost to Texas 3-1 in the national semifinal.

Coach Hugh McCutcheon, in his fifth season (130-36), was the 2015 AVCA National Coach of the Year. He is the only person to have coached the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic teams, with the U.S. men winning gold at the 2008

The Gophers earned two of the top honors from the Big Ten in senior hitter Sarah Wilhite the player of the year and sophomore Samantha Seliger-Swenson setter of the year. Joining them on the first team is senior middle/opposite Hannah Tapp with junior middle Molly Lohman honorable mention. Outside hitter Alexis Hart was picked for the all-freshmen team.

Wilhite, the reigning AVCA player of the week, averages 4.14 kills per set with 284 digs. 27 aces and 52 blocks and 11 double-doubles. Seliger-Swenson, the 2015 freshman of the year, is ninth nationally in assists per set (11.45) with 12 double-doubles, 254 digs, a team-high 31 aces and 63 total blocks.

Tapp is third on the team in kills (288), blocks (112) and blocks per set (1.06). Lohman leads the Gophers in hitting percentage (.355), blocks (154) and blocks per set (1.41). Hart is second on UM with 312 kills and, among Big Ten freshman, has the top hitting average (.249).

The Gophers’ home winning streak dates back to late 2014. Following a 3-2 loss to Nebraska on Oct. 22, Minnesota closed out the year with four victories then won all 15 in ’15 and 13 this season.

Hawaii (22-5)

The Rainbow Wahine are making their 24th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, 36th overall, missing only in 1992. Hawaii is 80-31 in NCAA play with national titles in 1982, ’83 and ’87. (AIAW title in 1979).

The Wahine are 33-2 in first-round matches, the losses coming in 1984 and 1997.

Leading the Wahine is senior opposite Nikki Taylor, the two-time Big West player of the year, who ranks No. 2 nationally in aces per set (.65), and 11th in both kills per set (4.59) and total aces (51).

Hawaii had five players on the All-Big West first team in Taylor, senior hitter Annie Mitchem, junior middle Emily Maglio, junior libero Savanah Kahakai and freshman setter Norene Iosia. Iosia also was named freshman of the year and Shoji coach of the year, the 14th COY of his career. He is in his 42nd season (1,201-203-1) and is second behind Penn State’s Russ Rose (1,211-195) in career wins.

Maglio ranks 19th nationally in hitting percentage (.393) and 24th in blocks per set (1.24).

Since losing in five sets at Long Beach State, the Wahine have won 10 straight, dropping just two sets.

Hawaii leads the series with USC 22-18, 5-4 in the postseason. In their last meeting, the Women of Troy outlasted the Wahine 3-2 in the 2011 regional semifinal at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Fun fact: Wahine associate head coach Jeff Hall grew up some 15 miles from the tournament site, in Shoreview, playing soccer for the Mounds View Mustangs as a freshman then playing club volleyball the rest of his high school career. There is no boys high school volleyball in the state.

USC (18-13)

The Women of Troy are making their 26th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, 35th overall, missing only in 1986 and ’90. USC is 76-30 in NCAA play with national titles in 1981, 2002 and ’03. (Three AIAW in 1976, ’77 and ’80).

USC is 21-4 in first-round matches, 16-0 under coach Mick Haley. He is in his 40th season at the D-I level (932-243).

The Women of Troy tied for seventh in the Pac-12, finishing 10-10 and losing their last three. The final two were on the road in five, at Washington State and UCLA.

Senior middle Elise Ruddins and freshman hitter Khalia Lanier were named to the All-Pac-12 team. Ruddins leads the conference in hitting percentage (.421) with 214 kills, and Lanier is the only freshman in the top five of the Pac-12 in kills (4.01 kps) and points (4.44 pps).

Sophomore hitter Alyse Ford, an honorable mention pick, is the team’s second-leading scorer (2.93 pps). Senior libero Taylor Whittingham has 1,730 career digs, ranking her third on the USC career list.

Fun facts: Haley is 5-11 against Shoji in head-to-head meetings, 1-7 while at Texas and 4-4 at USC. Haley is 2-3 in postseason matches, the aforementioned 2011 regional semifinal, and in 1988 when Texas defeated Hawaii for the national title in Minneapolis.

North Dakota (26-9)

The Fighting Hawks are making their first NCAA Division I appearance since the program moved from DII in 2012. Mark Pryor is in his third season (73-31).

UND has won its last 10, closing the season with five consecutive sweeps, including three when winning the Big Sky tournament. The Fighting Hawks set a tournament record when hitting .448 in the 25-10, 25-20, 25-18 sweep of Idaho State in the title match.

Junior hitter Faith Dooley was named the tourney MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by junior hitter Tamara Merseli, junior setter Sydney Griffin and senior outside hitter Chelse Moser.

All four also were named All-Big Sky highlighted by Griffin becoming the first UND player to be named league MVP. Serbian national Merselli, a transfer from Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College, was named newcomer of the year.

Moser, the team’s lone senior, is 48 kills from reaching 1,000.

Team wise, UND ranks nationally in digs (5th), blocks (11th) and kills (27th). Griffin’s 1,188 assists has her seventh in the nation. Dooley is 28 blocks shy of the all-time school record and needs 19 kills to reach 1,000.

Fun facts: UND’s third-year assistant Mia Tabberson was the setter for Minnesota (2009-12) … The Fighting Hawks’ first match as a full DI program was against then-No. 5 USC to open the 2012 season, losing to the Women of Troy 25-20, 25-23, 25-21 in the Texas A&M tournament.