SUU campus briefs

FOOTBALL: Southern Utah (3-4/2-0 Great West) has opened GWC play with back-to-back wins, a 20-7 Homecoming victory over then-No. 13 Cal Poly last Saturday, and a 31-21 come-from-behind triumph at North Dakota on Oct. 9. The two wins were a contrast in styles, as the T-Birds erupted for a season-high 509 yards of offense in the win at UND, then were able to grind out the win over Cal Poly with 346 total yards. The SUU defense played well in both games, giving up just 14 points and 173 total yards at UND, then holding down Cal Poly's prolific option attack. Next up is South Dakota at SUU, Saturday at 3 p.m.

South Dakota (3-4/1-1 Great West) opened GWC play with a 27-12 win over North Dakota two weeks ago but has since lost a pair of nail-biters. The Coyotes followed up the win over UND with a 17-13 defeat at UC Davis and are coming off a 19-14 home loss to Northern Iowa last Saturday. The Coyotes have one of the conference's signature wins this season, however, a 41-38 victory at Minnesota on Sept. 11.

Saturday's game will mark the third meeting between the two teams. South Dakota has come out on top of both previous meetings, taking a 42-20 road victory in the series opener in 2008, and prevailing 45-21 last season in Vermillion, S.D.

Akeem Anifowoshe and QB Brad Sorensen earned Great West Conference defensive and offensive Player of the Week honors for their play vs. Cal Poly. Anifowoshe tallied a team-season-high 14 tackles, including 10 solo stops, another a team-best this year. He also had one tackle in the Cal Poly backfield among his 10 solos as the Thunderbird defense disrupted the Cal Poly option game all day long. Sorensen averaged 14 yards per completion, completing 18-of-22 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. He finished the game with a career-best efficiency rating of 193.42. Sorensen also earned honorable mention as quarterback of the week from College Football Performance Awards for his performance this week.

VOLLEYBALL: Southern Utah will be looking for a measure of redemption and to keep pace in the Summit League as the Thunderbirds face Utah Valley and UMKC this week. SUU suffered a defeat against the Wolverines in Cedar City on Sept. 21 and will look to return the favor in Orem on Tuesday night.

"Our schedule doesn't get any easier this week," head coach Debby Baker said of the upcoming matches. "Utah Valley is one of the best teams in the state and beat us very soundly in Cedar City earlier this year. UMKC is also a good team and we had to take them to five sets to get a win in Kansas City."

Southern Utah is currently tied for first place in the Summit League with a 9-2 mark and is also riding a seven-game home winning streak against conference opponents. The Thunderbirds have already posted a five-set victory over UMKC in Kansas City earlier this year, part of a recent six-game winning streak.

Analaine Pelaez has paced the Thunderbird attack all year, leading the team with 298 kills and averaging a Summit League-best 4.13 kills per set. Pelaez is even better in conference matches, averaging 4.44 kills per set, also tops in the league. Jazmine Ma'afala and Cashaana Renfro have also eclipsed the century mark in kills with 154 and 111, respectively.