VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota senior outside hitter Audrey Reeg tallied a match-high 20 kills with a hitting percentage of .486 as the Coyotes swept the North Dakota State Bison 25-16, 25-17, 26-24 Friday night in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
Reeg now has 1,039 career kills and is eighth on USD's all-time kills list. She passed Michelle Hesse who played for the Coyotes from 1993-96. Up next for Reeg is Nikki Daggitt at 1,151 kills.
 
South Dakota is 14-2 on the season and remains undefeated in Summit League play with a mark of 3-0. USD is also 4-0 at home with three victories coming via a sweep. With the loss, the Bison drop to 4-12 and 2-1 in the Summit.
 
After Reeg, redshirt-sophomore outside hitter Rachel Schmidt had the second-most kills of the match with 14. She swatted down those kills with a .542 clip. Freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Loschen and senior middle blocker Lindsey Brown added four kills each.
 
Junior setter Brittany Jessen kept the offense going as she dished out 43 assists. She also tallied nine digs, six kills and three block assists.
 
On defense, sophomore libero Lauren Mattison recorded a match-high 15 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Hayley Dotseth and freshman defensive specialist Anne Rasmussen tallied 12 and 10, respectively.
 
As a team, the Coyotes outhit the Bison and had a .405 hitting percentage compared to NDSU's .230. South Dakota also tallied six team blocks to the Bison's one.
 
"This was a pretty clean match for us overall," said South Dakota head volleyball coach Leanne Williamson. "We took care of the ball and forced their defense to make plays. Both Audrey and Rachel had a great match. They swung with a lot of confidence and continued to stay aggressive even when we were pushed in set three.
 
"Set three was good for us moving forward. They made some changes and forced us to do some different things, but we stayed very calm and found a way to finish the match in three. We love playing at home. We are very confident here and our crowd gets really loud which gives us a great boost of energy."
 
With South Dakota up 15-14 in the first set, the team rattled off seven straight points. Reeg tallied two kills during the run while Jessen, Brown and Schmidt each added one as USD took a 22-14 lead. Altogether the Coyotes used a 10-2 run to claim the first set 25-16.
 
In the second set, the Coyotes jumped out to a 9-4 lead that forced North Dakota State to call a timeout. South Dakota increased the lead to as much as eight and never looked back as the Coyotes won the second set 25-17.
 
The third set went back and forth in scoring and the Bison had the lead at 16-15. The set would then be tied nine times before it was eventually all knotted up at 24. An attacking error by the Bison put the Coyotes ahead, and then a block assist by Jessen and redshirt-junior Meagan Kerns sealed the set at 26-24 and the match at 3-0.
 
South Dakota continues Summit League play on the road as the team travels to Brookings, S.D., to take on the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State Sunday at 2 p.m.