VERMILLION, S.D. (USD) – South Dakota dug deep during the critical points of Sunday’s Summit League volleyball match to record a 26-24, 25-19, 24-26, 27-25 win over North Dakota State inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
A see-saw match saw 29 ties and 12 lead changes as North Dakota State staved off one match point in both set three and set four. The Coyotes, in turn, staved off a set points from the Bison in set four, a set that saw the home team rally from a 23-19 deficit.
South Dakota eventually evened set four at 23-23, fell behind 23-24, took the lead 25-24, saw the set tied at 25-25, before closing out the match on a tip kill from setter Madison Jurgens and a service ace from Maddie Wiedenfeld, on a ball that was initially ruled out before a successful challenge from head coach Leanne Williamson.
“That’s a big win for us, obviously being at home, to be able to bounce back from our loss last weekend,” said Williamson. “All week we relay focused on a few different things within our gym.
“Our serve and pass broke down in the fourth set which made it a little closer. Wiedenfeld comes back with an ace there on match point and shout out to the fans (for telling me the ball was in).
Four Coyotes produced nine or more kills in the match, a contest that saw the hosts hit .246 while limiting North Dakota State to .165.
Elizabeth Juhnke had 23 kills as South Dakota moves to 5-4 overall and 4-1 in the Summit League. Sami Slaughter added 11 kills while Aimee Adams registered her first collegiate double-double with career-highs of 10 kills and 15 digs. Wiedenfeld chipped in nine kills while Madison Harms had five to go with 11 block assists.
Jurgens contributed a double-double of 47 assists and 14 digs while libero Lolo Weideman had a career-high for a four-set match with 25 digs.
“In the fourth set it came down being behind 19-23,” said Jurgens. “We just went with it, our backs were against the wall, we just got to play all out every point and we did just that.
“There were times that we did rollercoaster. There’s consistency in there somewhere and we are looking to find that tomorrow.”
The Coyotes surrendered the first six points of the match before clawing its way back into the set that saw ties of 21-21, 22-22, 23-23 and 24-24. The set ended on back-to-back kills from Wiedenfeld and Aimee Adams.
Set two featured two lead changes and six ties, the last coming at 10-10 before South Dakota surged ahead and took a 2-0 match lead as the set ended on a trio of attack errors from the Bison, part of their 30 in the match.
Juhnke had eight kills and Weideman eight digs in the third set, a set that saw the lead change hands seven times and end on consecutive attack errors by the Coyotes.
Set four was another back-and-forth affair before North Dakota State surged ahead from an 11-12 deficit to a 19-23 lead. South Dakota’s rally prevented the match from going five sets, which would have been its fifth of the season.
Monday’s first serve is at 6 p.m.
(Jason Cowley, University of South Dakota Sports Information, contributed this report.)
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