Box Score Sept. 6, 2014
Final Stats
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Forty attack errors and nine service errors sunk South Dakota volleyball as North Dakota topped the Coyotes 25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22 in the final match of the UND Classic at the Betty Engelstad Center on Saturday.
South Dakota (2-4) held a 62-45 advantage in kills during the match but struggled to keep the ball in play. Compared to USD's errors, North Dakota (6-2) committed 22 attack errors and 2 serving errors. North Dakota also out-blocked the Coyotes 14-10.
UND won despite only having Lexi Robinson reach a double-digit kill total (11). USD had four players reach that mark. McKenzie Hart dug out 23 USD attacks while Faith Dooley had seven block assists for UND defensively.
Audrey Reeg led the Coyotes with a career-high 19 kills and was one of three Coyotes to record double-doubles. Kendall Kritenbrink (10 kills, 14 digs) and Brittany Jessen (50 assists, 16 digs) were the other two. Riley Haug was USD's digs leader with 19.
Jessen and Melissa Firtko were named to the all-tournament team after the match. Firtko, who had 11 kills, eight digs and eight total blocks in the match, finished the three-match tournament with 31 kills and 25 blocks. Jessen had 146 assists and 32 digs in the tournament.
The Coyotes had more kills than North Dakota in every set, but had more attack errors than UND had kills in the first and fourth sets. The Yotes recorded 16 kills and 14 errors in the first set while North Dakota had eight kills and five errors. In the fourth set, USD had 12 kills and 12 attack errors while UND had 10 and eight in those categories respectively.
Reeg and Sydney Dimke led the Coyote offense during the middle sets. Both players had five kills in the second set, and Reeg recorded seven kills while Dimke added five in the third. Dimke would finish with 13 kills in the match. However, North Dakota took set three with the help of 17 kills and three attack errors to USD's 18 kills and five errors.
South Dakota will be on the road again next weekend as they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for another tournament. The Coyotes will start by playing tournament host Arkansas on Friday at 7 p.m.
