INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – South Dakota volleyball coach
Leanne Williamson secured her 100
th career win as the Coyotes completed a 3-0 season-opening weekend to win the IUPUI Invitational.
South Dakota posted a pair of wins on Saturday, downing Valparaiso in four sets (25-20, 25-18, 24-26, 25-24) before giving Williamson her 100
th win with a three-game sweep (25-19, 25-17, 25-14) over Murray State, a NCAA Tournament team a year ago.
The Coyotes had opened the season on Friday night with a four-set victory over former Summit League rival IUPUI.
Freshman
Elizabeth Juhnke was named tournament MVP after posting weekend totals of 52 kills and 34 digs. Also named to the all-tourney team were junior
Sami Slaughter and sophomore
Madison Jurgens.
USD 3, VALPARAISO 1
Juhnke had a monster match with 23 kills on only three errors, a .426 hitting percentage, while also adding nine digs and three service aces.
Slaughter tallied 11 kills and
Maddie Wiedenfeld nine for a Coyotes team that had a .233 hitting percentage in the win. Wiedenfeld and
Madison Harms each recorded seven block assists in the win.
Jurgens contributed 48 assists and 10 digs while
Anne Rasmussen had 18 digs and
Mehana Fonseca and
Lolo Weideman eight apiece.
The Coyotes battled through adversity after falling in set three to come back and finish off the match by scoring the final four points of the match in set four.
"During the Valpo match, we really started to see what we could do offensively," Williamson said. "For the first two matches, we saw how good we can be when our back is against the wall. That mentality is going to be really important.
"
Elizabeth Juhnke was really good today. She bounced back from yesterday and saw how big of a competitor she can be. Our middles (Harms and Wiedenfeld) came up big in the blocks with seven each. I am excited to see how this team continues to develop."
USD 3, MURRAY STATE 0
Juhnke had her third double-digit kill outing to begin her collegiate career, recording 17 kills with only three errors and a .412 hitting percentage.
Slaughter added 11 kills while Jurgens chipped in 37 assists as the Coyotes offense had a .317 team hitting percentage.
Fonseca had 12 digs and Rasmussen 10 for the South Dakota defense that also had a combined eight team blocks in the win.
"Our goal as a team was to get better as the weekend went on," Williamson said. "We certainly did that today. We put together our most complete match of the season against a team who is always at the top of their league. We got great individual performances from many, but our depth continues to be a strength for us.
"Madison did a great job finding great match ups against Murray State and we were able to capitalize. We are far from a finished product, but we are excited to get back in the gym to improve before we face a very good Iowa State team on Tuesday."
South Dakota travels to Ames for a 6:30 p.m. match on Tuesday against the Cyclones.
