VERMILLION, S.D. — The South Dakota volleyball team rallied from two sets down to beat the Fort Wayne Mastodons in a five-set thriller 16-25, 26-28, 26-24, 25-22, 15-8 Saturday night in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. With volleyball's win, Coyote teams went 5-0 during the Friday and Saturday stretch for Dakota Days.
 
The Coyotes are now 17-2 on the season and remain undefeated in the Summit League at 6-0. This was South Dakota's first five-set match of the season.   
 
"Tonight, we were challenged by a very good Fort Wayne team," said South Dakota head volleyball coach Leanne Williamson. "We could have sat back after set two and allowed them to get a sweep. Instead, the team made a decision to battle and play to win.
 
"This was our first five-set match and we handled it well. I am very proud of the heart that the team showed and that is what it takes to win a fifth set."
 
Four Coyotes tallied double-digit kills in the win and were led by senior outside hitter Audrey Reeg who accounted for 18. Sophomore outside hitter Hayley Dotseth and freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Loschen tallied 12 kills each and senior middle blocker Lindsey Brown added 10 more.
 
Junior setter Brittany Jessen dished out 53 assists in the win. She recorded a career-high 28 digs to give her a double-double. Reeg and Dotseth also recorded a double-double and tallied 16 and 19 digs, respectively.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Kelly Braghini got her first start of the season and totaled a career- and match-high seven total blocks. Loschen, Reeg and Jessen each tallied two more blocks a piece as the Coyotes recorded 10.0 total team blocks.
 
Sophomore libero Lauren Mattison helped protect the back line with 14 digs and freshman defensive specialist Anne Rasmussen added eight more.
 
"We had some big performances from Hayley, offensively, and Kelly, defensively," said Williamson. "That is a complete team win, and I am looking forward to seeing what else we can accomplish."
 
Fort Wayne jumped out to an early 2-0 match lead by winning the first two sets by scores of 16-25 and 26-28.
 
The Coyotes would answer the call and it started with Dotseth being moved to the front row in the third set. Dotseth tallied all 12 of her kills in sets three through five. Set three was the most back-and-forth set and was tied a total of 17 times. With the Coyotes down 21-20, Dotseth would swat down a kill, which was followed by a Jessen and Brown block and the Coyotes took the lead. Fort Wayne answered back and tied the set at 24 before Reeg hit back-to-back kills to give the Coyotes the 26-24 win.
 
The fourth set followed suit with the second and third sets and was neck-and-neck. The set was tied 11 times before Fort Wayne took a two-point lead with a score of 22-20. After a South Dakota time out, Reeg cut the deficit to one with a kill. Braghini made a solo block to tie up the score and then combined with Dotseth for two straight blocks to give the Coyotes a 24-22 lead. Dotseth swatted down the final kill to give the Coyotes a 25-22 win and forced a fifth and final set.
 
USD opened the final set on an 8-3 run. During the run, four different Coyotes recorded a kill as Brown, Reeg, Loschen and Dotseth wouldn't be denied. The Coyotes coasted throughout the rest of the set and won 15-8 and finished the comeback to win the match 3-2.
 
South Dakota will take a break from conference play and host the Iowa State Cyclones on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.