Volleyball splits road trip to Omaha, Denver

The Coyotes traveled to Omaha for a match-up with the undefeated Mavericks Thursday night, and took a five-set thriller. Saturday, the Coyotes took the first two sets against the Pioneers, but fell in five sets to Denver.

Coyotes 3, Mavericks 2

A 24-kill match for Elizbeth Juhnke led the Coyotes to a 25-17, 23-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-13 win over Omaha Thursday night. 

Juhnke tallied 24 kills and 22 digs to pace the Coyotes. Madison Harms added 15 kills and Aimee Adams 10. Madison Jurgens tallied 51 assists and 20 digs. Lolo Weideman had a game-high 32 digs. 

Marriah Buss tallied 16 kills to lead the Mavs. Sadie Limback had 14 digs to go with her 12 kills. Sami Clarkson tallied 44 assists and Jaiden Centeno tallied 31 digs. Claire Mountjoy added 22 digs. 

Pioneers 3, Coyotes 2

After dropping the first two sets, the Pioneers picked up a 12-25, 20-25, 25-13, 25-17, 15-10 win over the Coyotes Saturday.

Ari Winters tallied 13 kills for the Pioneers. Lydia Bartalo added 11 kills and 13 digs. Brianna Green pitched in 11 kills. Gianna Bartalo tallied 15 digs. Ellie Anderson pitched in 24 assists and Lorrin Poutler 22 assists.

Juhnke was the lone Coyote with double digit kills, recording 10 in the loss. Adams and Sami Slaughter added nine kills each. Jurgens tallied 31 assists and nine digs. Weideman tallied 12 digs. 

The Coyotes (10-8, 7-2) currently sit third in the Summit League, half a game behind Omaha and Denver for first, who are both 7-1 in the conference.

The Coyotes have one game this week, as the take on South Dakota State in Brookings Friday at 7 p.m.