Coyote volleyball moves to 11-1 with sweep in Illinois

The USD women’s volleyball team swept Northern Illinois and Bradley at the CEFCU Classic in Peoria, Illinois this weekend.

USD vs. Northern Illinois

The Coyotes completed their sixth sweep of the season, dominating Northern Illinois in the first three sets (25-14, 25-20, 25-19). 

The first match saw junior outside hitter Sami Slaughter complile 13 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Juhnke added to the total with 10 kills and 16 digs. Alongside her, freshman middle hitter Madison Harms secured 10 kills and six blocks.

Sophomore setter Madison Jurgens set her career-high for a three-set match with 44 assists and accumulated 10 digs for the Coyotes.

Senior outside hitter Elizabeth Loschen and sophomore outside hitter Lolo Weideman added to the kill total with eight and six respectively.

USD vs. Bradley

The Coyotes beat Bradley in four sets (25-19, 25-20, 25-27, 25-23) in the second game of a doubleheader on Friday.

Producing a career-high 21 kills, Loschen had a .500 hitting percentage on 36 attempts while allowing only three errors. 

With 16 kills each, Juhnke and Slaughter added to the .271 team hitting percentage.

Senior libero Anne Rasmussen tallied 29 digs, five assists and two aces. Jurgens also chipped in 17 digs and 54 assists. 

Loschen was named MVP of the tournament and Rasmussen was named to the all-tournament team.

“As a whole, our team was not as consistent as we would like to be,” Rasmussen said. “That being said, we were able to have different people step up in crucial moments to help us get a team win.”

The Coyotes begin conference play against Oral Roberts on Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.