VERMILLION, S.D. - The South Dakota volleyball team goes back on the road Saturday for a Summit League match at Missouri-Kansas City. The match begins at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Kansas City, Mo.

The Coyotes are in sixth place in the Summit League, but trail fourth-place Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis by only one game in the standings with seven conference matches remaining.

South Dakota swept the Kangaroos earlier this season in a match in Vermillion, S.D.

The opponent: UMKC The Kangaroos are 7-14 overall and 1-10 in the Summit League. They are coming off of a four-set win over Southern Utah on Oct. 16 in Kansas City, Mo., which was their first conference win of the year. UMKC is facing Nebraska-Omaha in a nonconference match tonight prior to facing South Dakota. Kelsey Knoche leads UMKC with 205 kills, while Emily Lucas has 183. Ella Meier has 452 set assists for the Kangaroos while Brittney Robers has 262. As a team, UMKC is hitting .138. Nicole Kerkman has 355 digs, while Christiana McQuin has 70 blocks. Christi Posey is in her first season as UMKC's head coach with a record of 7-14 at the school.

The 2011 Coyotes South Dakota (12-12, 5-6 Summit) is coming off of a 1-2 home weekend. The Coyotes lost tough five-set conference matches to Southern Utah (Oct. 14) and Oral Roberts (Oct. 16) before rebounding with a five-set win over nonconference foe Drake on Oct. 17. Freshman Kendall Kritenbrink (Gretna, Neb.) paced the Coyotes with 72 kills in the three matches, while sophomore Amber Aschoff (Ankeny, Iowa) had 38 kills. Sophomore Tori Kroll (Germantown, Wis.) had 81 set assists while junior Bailey Lupardus had 79. Senior Carol Logato (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) had 61 digs, while Kritenbrink led with nine total blocks.

For the season, Kritenbrink leads the way with 317 kills, while Aschoff has 203, sophomore Natalie Walseth (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) has 175 and senior Tahnee Reed (Pierce, Neb.) had 171. Kroll (Germantown, Wis.) has 833 set assists while Logato leads with 349 digs. Reed has 71 blocks to lead the Coyotes.

As a team, South Dakota is hitting .198, compared to .193 for their opponents.

Matt Houk is 62-52 in his fourth season as Coyote head coach.

All-Tournament honors Three South Dakota players earned all-tournament honors at the Coyotes' first three tournaments. Kritenbrink was named to the all-tournament team at Wyoming, while Logato was named to the all-tournament team at the Bluejay Invitational.

Kritenbrink was named the MVP of the Montana Tournament, while Kroll also earned all-tournament honors.

Summit League Stats The Coyotes, as a team, rank second in the Summit League in service aces per set (1.39) and third in hitting percentage (.198), while others rank individually: --Kritenbrink ranks first in kills per set at 4.28 and first in points per set (4.62). --Reed is fifth in service aces per set at 0.32 and ninth in hitting percentage at .251. --Kroll is ranked seventh in assists per set at 9.47. --Haug is ranked sixth in service aces per set (0.32). --Logato ranks eighth in digs per set with 4.42.

Climbing the Charts Several Coyotes are climbing the career charts: --Kroll has moved into fifth all-time in career sets with 1,954; she surpassed Angela Golesh in the Oakland match on Oct. 8. She is just 46 away from 2,000 for her career. She is fourth in sets per set at 9.39. --Reed is at 218 total blocks and is just three out of 10th place. She also is at 91 career service aces and is just nine away from 10th place. --Logato is averaging 4.54 digs per set, second all-time in school history.

Summit League Players of the Week Kritenbrink and Kroll have earned Summit League Offensive Player of the Week honors this fall. Kritenbrink earned the honor on Sept. 19, while Kroll received the honor on Oct. 3.

Career Highs X 4 It's not often that four different players record career highs in the same match, but the Coyotes accomplished the feat against Western Illinois on Oct. 2. Kroll set a career-high with 59 set assists, while junior Kim Bulaga had a career-high 22 kills, while Reed also posted a career-high with 19 kills. Haug also posted a career-high with 22 digs.