Box Score Oct. 31, 2014
Final Stats
VERMILLION, S.D. – Kendall Kritenbrink tallied 23 kills while Audrey Reeg and Sydney Dimke both tallied 11 kills as South Dakota volleyball recorded its 15th straight Summit League home win by dropping Fort Wayne 21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-18 in The Den on Friday night.
Three Coyotes (15-9, 9-2) recorded double-digit digs defensively with Reeg's tally of 17 leading the way. Riley Haug added 12 digs while Kritenbrink finished with 11. Brittany Jessen finished with 52 assists and Kelsey Biltoft recorded five total blocks.
South Dakota had 35 kills and just two attack errors over the final two sets. USD had 14 kills and one error on 37 attacks for a .351 hitting percentage in set three, then followed up with 21 kills and one error on 34 attacks in set four for a .588 hitting percentage. Melissa Firtko (.500), Kelsey Biltoft (.455) and Dimke (.450) all recorded hitting percentages over .400 during the match while recording at least five kills.
Emily Spencer was the Mastodons (10-16, 4-7) top attacker with 23 kills while Somer Johnson and Sarah Heckman added 15 kills and 10 kills respectively. Madison Spence and Kendall Wienkes led Fort Wayne defensively with 12 digs each.
Fort Wayne took set one behind five kills from Spencer and four kills from Heckman. In set two, Kritenbrink tallied eight kills to give the Coyotes a 17-13 edge in that stat. The Coyotes led by as many as nine during that set.
South Dakota took set three despite being out-killed 18-14. Kritenbrink and Reeg led a balanced USD attack during that frame with three kills each. Four more Coyotes added two kills apiece.
The Coyotes limited Fort Wayne to just nine kills in set four and finished the match on a 6-0 run. Kritenbrink tallied seven kills and six digs in the final set while Reeg added five kills.
The Coyotes have not lost a Summit League match in The Den since being swept 3-0 by Western Illinois on Oct. 14, 2012. They will be at home in three of their final five matches.
South Dakota remains in a tie for first place in the Summit League with Denver and IUPUI at 9-2. Denver swept Omaha while IUPUI swept South Dakota State on Friday night. USD hosts both teams in The Den before the end of the season.
South Dakota will travel up I-29 to face North Dakota State in Fargo on Sunday at 1 p.m. They'll return to The Den to host Denver on Nov. 7.
