FARGO, N.D. – South Dakota scored the final 11 points of the match to pull out a hard-fought five-set win over North Dakota State on Friday inside the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.
 
The Coyotes, behind the strength of serving from Anne Rasmussen in the fifth set, claimed their 14^th- straight win to tie the school record set in 2007. Match scores were 20-25, 25-13, 25-17, 15-25, 15-5.
 
Rasmussen, a senior, provided three of her five service aces in the match in succession in the fifth set for South Dakota, now 6-0 in the Summit League.
 
"North Dakota State is a really tough place to play," coach Leanne Williamson said. "They generate a lot of energy and it can force teams to back off. I liked that we responded when we had to in order to come away with the win."
 
South Dakota jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fifth set, fell behind 5-4, before using the strength of strong serving from Rasmussen to score the final 11 points to secure its fourth five-set win of the season.
 
"Our block was really important in the deciding fifth set which was something we had talked about before it began," said Williamson. "I liked how we played with intent from that first point. We also were able to rely on three of our best servers during the fifth set.
 
"We were able to make them much more predictable and our defense and block were able to capitalize on the back side."
 
Elizabeth Juhnke provided 16 kills for a Coyotes offense that had a .242 hitting percentage. Sami Slaughter had 15 kills and Maddie Wiedenfeld 10.
 
Madison Jurgens contributed 47 assists and 11 digs while defensively the Coyotes had five in double figures in digs as Rasmussen had 20, Lolo Weideman 15, Mehana Fonseca 11 and Juhnke 11.
 
South Dakota also limited North Dakota State to a .182 team hitting percentage, marking the 13^th time during the 14-match win streak that an opponent has failed to hit at least .200.
 
South Dakota has a week off to prepare for the final two games during the first run through of the Summit League. Western Illinois comes to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center on Friday for "Pink Out" before the Coyotes battle Purdue Fort Wayne at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls on Sunday.
 
"Now we get some much needed time off to really focus on our training and getting ourselves as strong as we can be," added Williamson.