DENVER—South Dakota volleyball's season comes to an end after a nail-biting five-set match in the Summit League Tournament semifinals against Oral Roberts Saturday in Hamilton Gymnasium. The scores went 19-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23 and 15-9.
 
Who Stood Out
It was an all-around team effort for South Dakota as the Coyotes had four tally 10-plus kills and three record 10-plus digs. Three-time Summit League Setter of the Year Brittany Jessen ended the night with a season-best 11 kills, 55 assists and seven digs. Alongside Jessen was Hayley Dotseth with a team-high 14 kills as Taylor Wilson and Elizabeth Loschen fell right behind with 13 kills.
 
Anne Rasmussen yet again led the defensive pack for the Coyotes with 26 digs. Helping Rasmussen on the defensive end was Kristina Susak with 19 digs and Dotseth contributing 18 more.
 
For Oral Roberts, Laura Milos led the team with 32 kills and 18 digs. Morgan Blomquist and Shelby Cox added 11 kills each to the Golden Eagle offense. In addition to Milos' 18 digs, Katarina Mikulc had a team-high 19 digs with Tori Roe contributing 16 more.
 
Turning Point
It all came down to the fifth set. After splitting the first four sets, South Dakota came out fighting to start the fifth. After starting the match with a service ace, Oral Roberts tallied two kills to put the score 2-1. Dotseth answered with a kill of her own to tie it up 2-2. A kill by Milos would make the score 3-2, but it wouldn't last long. Loschen would hammer down a kill to tie it up 3-3, but a service error by Rasmussen would give the Golden Eagles the lead that would remain the rest of the set. The closest the Coyotes would come was within one point when a kill by Wilson made the score 8-7. Oral Roberts would go on a 7-2 run to take the fifth set 15-9 and end the Coyotes' season.
 
Quotable
"This loss hurts, and it isn't because we didn't play well," head coach Leanne Williamson said. "We did some amazing things today to give ourselves a chance against a very good Oral Roberts team.
 
"I would like to thank our seniors for taking our program to another level. They are the definition of what it means to be a student-athlete. They have done everything and more that has been asked of them. They have led our team with pride and never backed down when adversity kept hitting them. I am so incredibly proud of this team for achieving so much this year while doing it the right way. I step back, and I see accomplishments that tell an amazing story."
 
Notable

• Loschen's 13 kills make tonight's match a season-high for her.
• Dotseth ends the season with 17 double-doubles with 13 of them being during league action.
• Jessen ends her USD career with 4,826 assists, which places fourth in the Summit League.
• Oral Roberts hit for .340 the last time the Coyotes and the Golden Eagles matched up. South Dakota kept them to a .231 clip tonight.