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BROOKINGS, S.D. – The entire month of September featured 14 consecutive matches away from home for the IUPUI volleyball team and after being rejuvenated during a four-match homestand over the past two weeks, the Jaguars return to the road this weekend for a pair of Summit League contests at South Dakota State and at North Dakota State.

IUPUI first travels to Brookings, S.D., to take on the Jackrabbits on Friday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m. ET, before making their way to Fargo, N.D., the following night for an 8 p.m. tilt against the Bison.

The Jaguars enter this weekend tied for third place in the conference with Western Illinois, while both SDSU and NDSU sit in a tie for sixth with Omaha at 1-4.

"At this point of the season, records don't mean much because in conference play everybody knows what the other is trying to do," head coach Steve Payne said. "Winning on the road is difficult and we are going to have to execute at a high level if we want to come away with two wins this weekend."

IUPUI is coming off a tough five-set loss to Valparaiso Tuesday evening. The Jags were led offensively by Moriah Fair, who posted a team-high 18 kills in addition to 13 digs against the Crusaders. Those 13 digs pushed her over 1,000 digs for her career making her the 16th player in program history – and the third this season - to reach that career milestone. By already reaching 1,000 kills earlier this season, Fair also became the fourth player in the school record books to reach 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.

Fair and Kaitlyn Hickey enter the weekend ranked fifth and sixth in the league in kills in league-only action averaging 4.06 kps and 3.39 kps, respectively. Defensively, Beth Howard leads the conference in digs averaging 4.61 dps.

Following an 0-2 start to Summit League play, IUPUI has rallied off three straight wins and during that stretch, the Jaguars have hit .366 thanks in part to Alexis Meeks and her 12.78 aps. Meeks has continuously found good match-ups for her hitters and five hitters are hitting better than .250 during this three-match stretch.

North Dakota State approaches the midway point of the conference season with a 1-17 overall record and a 1-4 league mark. Jenni Fassbender paces the Bison offensively averaging 3.33 kps and she has accounted for just over 28 percent of NDSU's kills. Collectively, North Dakota State is hitting .166.

South Dakota State begins the weekend with a 3-15 overall mark and a 1-4 Summit League record after earning a four-set win at Omaha last weekend. Wagner Larson is the Jackrabbits top attacker averaging 2.79 kps, but in league-only play Tiara Gibson has upped her kills per set average from 1.70 to 2.50 while hitting an impressive .494 in conference-only matches, which is tops in the league.