DENVER—South Dakota volleyball advances to the Summit League Tournament semifinals after three Coyotes tallied 10-plus kills to end Fort Wayne's season in the quarterfinal match Friday in Hamilton Gymnasium. The scores went 25-23, 21-25, 25-13 and 25-21.
 
Who Stood Out
Senior Brittany Jessen led the pack with her season-best 10 kills. Jessen's 10 kills on 16 attempts gave her another season-best .625 clip. Add her 46 assists and 15 digs on the night and Jessen records her first triple-double of the season and fifth of her career. Right behind Jessen was junior Hayley Dotseth with 16 kills and 18 digs and sophomore Elizabeth Loschen with a season-best 12 kills. Anne Rasmussen was behind Dotseth and Jessen with 14 digs.
 
For the Mastodons, Nicole Rightnowar recorded a double-double with 20 kills and 11 digs. Also leading the Mastodon's offense was Lauren Hoffman with 13 kills. Madison Jaqua finished with a double-double with her 48 assists and 10 digs. Elizabeth Britner accumulated 26 digs for Fort Wayne.
 
Turning Point
It was a fight from the start as the Coyotes split the first two sets with the Mastodons. The Coyotes brought the momentum to begin the third set running the score up 6-1, forcing the Mastodons to take a timeout. Fort Wayne would come within three points of South Dakota with a kill by Rightnowar to put the score 10-7, but that's as close as the Mastodons would come. Rasmussen would serve three of the points to extend the lead 14-7 and the Coyotes would take off from there. South Dakota would take the third set 25-13 and head into a fourth.
 
There were two tie scores and one lead change in the fourth set. Much like the first two sets, it was a battle at the net. A block by Fort Wayne's Elizabeth Fuerst and Natalie Seiler would tie up the score 13-13. A kill hammered down by Kristina Susak would give the Coyotes the lead 14-13 and South Dakota would lead from that point on. Coyotes finished set four to take the match 25-21.
 
Quotable
"I am really happy with how we worked through a fairly inconsistent match from our team," head coach Leanne Williamson said. "The conference tournament is always going to be a different type of competition. Fort Wayne played a great match and really challenged us from the first point.
 
"Britt really stepped up and made some big plays. She had a triple-double today which can be very hard to achieve as a setter. Elizabeth also had a great match. She had seven kills in the second set which gave us a much-needed boost. We need to prepare for tomorrow and know that we will have to play cleaner from the first point."

Notable

• Fort Wayne's Sydney Boerst sits fifth in the league for her .306 hitting percentage. The Coyotes kept her to a .056 clip during the quarterfinal match.
• Dotseth's double-double makes this her 16^th of the season and 12^th of Summit League action.

Up Next
South Dakota enters the semifinals match against No. 2 Oral Roberts at 7 p.m. Saturday.