Coyotes break Division I record in South Dakota Classic
The USD volleyball team hosted Bradley, Central Arkansas and Milwaukee as a part of the South Dakota Classic Sept. 9-11 at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center (SCSC).
The Coyotes set a Division I record in the final game of the tournament Friday.
Thursday night, the Coyotes took on Bradley inside the SCSC, where they won 3-0. The win followed a lot of back-and-forth play which contributed to five lead changes in the second set and a narrow victory in the third set of 27-25.
Senior Sami Slaughter led the team tallying 13 kills on .344 hitting percentage and five digs.
During the second day of the tournament, the Coyotes competed against Central Arkansas at noon and Milwaukee at 7:30 p.m.
In the match-up against Central Arkansas, USD won again in three sets. The Bears were able to stick close to the Coyotes throughout all three sets, holding USD to, at most, a five-point win.
“I’m obviously happy with the sweep, being on our home floor definitely makes a difference with that, but I wouldn’t say this game was as clean as last night,” USD head coach Leanne Williamson said.
The team was led by junior Elizabeth Juhnke, who tallied 12 kills on .346 hitting percentage and six digs.
The final game of the tournament for the Coyotes was against Williamson’s alma-mater, Milwaukee. During her time at Milwaukee, Williamson was named an All-American and a two-time National Player of the Year.
USD won the first set 25-21, then proceeded to lose the next two, before beating the Panthers 3-2. In the match-up, the Coyotes were able to break a Division I record of the highest number of blocks as a team with 19.
Senior Madison Jurgens became fourth all-time for assists in USD history with 3681 career assists during the game Friday evening.
Following the tournament, junior Madison Harms was named the tournament MVP and the Summit League Player of the Week following her 44.5 points, 33 kills and 17 blocks throughout the entirety of the tournament.
The Coyotes are preparing for the Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kansas Sept. 17-18. Following the Shocker Classic, USD will enter their Summit League schedule with their first game against South Dakota State Sept. 24 in the SCSC.
“Every schedule we create, we feel like sets us up for what our conference will be like. We have been playing teams that are similar to conference opponents, we even have teams that are maybe at a bit of a higher level,” Williamson said. “A big part of preseason is just learning, learning what we do well and learning what we struggle at, and the best way to do that is to play teams that will challenge us.”
