VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota volleyball continues its season as the Coyotes go to Iowa City, Iowa Friday and Saturday to compete in the Iowa Invitational at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. USD plays Lamar on Friday at 1 p.m. On Saturday, the Coyotes have a second match with Lamar at 1 p.m. before they face Iowa in the nightcap at 7 p.m.
All three of South Dakota's matches will have
live stats. For the match against Iowa, it will be streamed (for a fee) on Hawkeye All-Access at hawkeyesports.com.
The Coyotes are on a nine-game winning streak after an opening-season loss to Alabama. They are coming off the Pacific Community Classic and were crowned the champions by beating Northern Colorado, Oregon State and Pacific.
During the winning streak, USD has recorded four sweeps. The team ranks third in the nation in digs per set (18.83), 22
nd in team digs (678), 23
rd in assists per set (13.25) and 72
nd in team kills (502). In the Summit League, USD ranks first in assists per set, kills per set and digs per set.
Individually, junior setter
Brittany Jessen ranks 36
th and 45
th in the nation for total assists (383) and assists per set (10.64), respectively. Senior outside hitter
Audrey Reeg leads the Coyotes and ranks 84
th in the nation for total kills (134) while sophomore libero
Lauren Mattison leads the team and ranks 88
th in total digs (160).
On offense, four more Coyotes have 60-plus kills. Freshman outside hitter
Elizabeth Loschen is next with 77 and sophomore outside hitter
Hayley Dotseth has 71. Sophomore
Kelly Law and Jessen have 65 and 63, respectively. Jessen and Reeg lead the Coyotes in service aces. Jessen is tied for third in the Summit with 12 and Reeg is tied for ninth with 10.
On defense, four Coyotes have 100-plus digs. After Mattison, Reeg has 137, Dotseth has 127 and Jessen has 117. Law leads the team in total blocks with 30 and senior middle blocker
Lindsey Brown has 20.
The opponents
Lamar (14-16, 4-12 Southland) – Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Cardinals were picked 12
th in the Southland coaches' poll. Senior outside hitter Chelsea Grant was named to the 2016 All-Southland preseason team. Lamar enters the Iowa Invitational at 0-9. Grant leads Lamar with 120 kills. Senior setter Ashley Ellis has 176 assists and junior setter Haley Morton is next with 118. Senior defensive specialist Lauren Stahlman leads the defense with 64 digs. Grant and sophomore outside hitter Murielle Hlavac each have 38. Sophomore middle blocker Ivette Dim protects the net with 25 total blocks.
Iowa (12-21, 2-18 Big Ten) – Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Hawkeyes were picked to finish 12
th in the Big Ten preseason poll. They have a record of 8-2 and are coming off two wins at the Iowa State Invitational. Iowa swept Montana and North Dakota State, but got swept by Iowa State. Senior outside hitter Lauren Brobst leads Iowa with 105 kills and redshirt-freshman outside hitter Meghan Buzzerio has 82. Senior setter Loxley Keala keeps the Hawkeye offense going with 362 assists (11.31 per set). On defense, senior outside hitter/middle blocker Ashley Mariani has 29 total blocks and sophomore right-side hitter Reghan Coyle has 21. Junior defensive specialist Annika Olsen leads the team with 133 digs.
