TULSA, Okla. — The South Dakota volleyball team is off to its best start in Summit League play at 8-1 after the Coyotes swept the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 Friday night in the Aerobics Center.
 
With the win, South Dakota is 19-4 overall. The Coyotes remain in first place in the Summit and are one game ahead of Denver. USD has now swept 12 matches, including six from the Summit. Oral Roberts drops to 12-11 and 4-5.
 
"This win feels good," said South Dakota head volleyball coach Leanne Williamson. "The team really made a change from last Sunday. They worked really hard in practice this week, and came out with the intent to make a run immediately.
 
"Our serving was one of the key factors to our success. We served aggressively from the start and put them into really tough situations which allowed our defense to be very clean. Winning on the road in this conference is tough, so to come down here and win in three sets is huge for our team."
 
Redshirt sophomore Rachel Schmidt led the Coyotes and tied her career-high with 16 kills. She did so with an attack percentage of .429. After Schmidt, senior Audrey Reeg tallied six kills, junior setter Brittany Jessen added five and senior middle blocker Lindsey Brown had four more. The Coyotes out hit the Golden Eagles .329 to .260.
 
Jessen kept the offense going with 26 assists. She not only had the kills, but added nine digs and four service aces.
 
The Coyotes totaled 12 service aces to Oral Roberts' three. After Jessen's four, Reeg tallied three, Brown and defensive specialist Anne Rasmussen added two apiece and sophomore libero Lauren Mattison had one.
 
Defensively, junior middle blocker/outside hitter Meagan Kerns totaled three total blocks. Reeg, Brown and freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Loschen added two apiece as the Coyotes tallied 6.0 team blocks compared to the Golden Eagles' 3.0. Reeg led the team in digs with 11 as Mattison and Jessen each had nine.
 
In set one, the Coyotes took a 7-2 lead after two service aces apiece from Jessen and Reeg. With USD up 13-9, Brown served back-to back aces to push the lead to 15-9. South Dakota and Oral Roberts went back and forth in scoring and the Coyotes claimed the first set 25-17 after a block assist by Reeg and Brown. Altogether, the Coyotes combined for seven service aces in the set as Rasmussen added one more.
 
With set two tied at three, South Dakota went on a 7-2 run and took a 10-5 lead. Schmidt tallied three kills during the run. With USD up 12-8, the Coyotes scored four straight points to take a 16-8 lead. Jessen recorded a service ace and a kill during the run. South Dakota carried that momentum throughout the rest of the set and won 25-17 and took a 2-0 lead in the match. The Coyotes had an attack percentage of .484 in the set.
 
With the Coyotes down 19-16 in the third set, Schmidt and Mattison tallied a kill and service ace, respectively, to cut the lead to 19-18. ORU had a 20-18 lead after a Coyote service error, but then the Coyotes went on a 4-0 run to take a 22-20 lead. Schmidt tallied three kills during the run and Rasmussen added an ace. USD went on to win the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
 
South Dakota returns home and will host Omaha Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.