PEORIA, Ill. – South Dakota volleyball battled through adversity Friday evening at the Renaissance Coliseum to come away with an eighth-straight victory.
 
The Coyotes bounced back after dropping their first set of the day by securing the 25-19, 25-20, 25-27, 25-23 win over Bradley to close out the CEFCU Classic with a 2-0 mark.
 
Elizabeth Loschen, a senior, produced a career-high 21 kills with only three errors while hitting .500 on 36 attempts as South Dakota improved its overall record to 11-1.
 
Elizabeth Juhnke tallied 16 kills and 17 digs and Sami Slaughter also added 16 kills for a Coyotes attack that had a team .271 hitting percentage.
 
Madison Jurgens provided 54 assists and 17 digs while libero Anne Rasmussen had 29 digs to go with five assists and two ace serves. Lolo Weideman was a fourth Coyote in double figures in digs with 10.
 
"These two matches were really good for us to have to play this weekend," coach Leanne Williamson said. "Both of them are similar to some of our conference opponents that we will start seeing next weekend. Although we are happy with winning the tournament, we know that we have some things to clean up this week before heading into conference. 
 
"We have had a good preseason with the amount of wins that we have secured, but this team is not satisfied. We will get a good weekend of rest and then really focus on improving before starting our second half of the season at 0-0."
 
Loschen was named tourney MVP after two matches that saw her post 29 kills on just five errors and a .414 hitting percentage.
 
Rasmussen, who joined Loschen on the all-tourney team, had 42 digs in two matches, good for 6.00 per set.
 
"Elizabeth Loschen was very good today and really put us in a position to pull out the win," Williamson said. "Annie also made some really big plays on the defensive end. It was nice to see two seniors step up and lead our team when we needed it."
 
 
USD 3, NIU 0
 
South Dakota volleyball improved to 10-1 following its sixth sweep of the season on Friday, downing Northern Illinois 25-14, 25-20, 25-19 to open the CEFCU Classic at Renaissance Coliseum.
 
Slaughter hit .423 and registered double figures in kills for the 11^th straight match, finishing with a game-high 13. Juhnke added 10 kills and 16 digs while Madison Harms reached double figures in kills for the first time as a collegian with 10 to go along with six total blocks.
 
Jurgens matched her career-high for a three-set match with 44 assists and added 10 digs for a South Dakota team that had a .363 hitting percentage, its second highest of the season.
 
Loschen chipped in eight kills and Wiedenfeld six for the Coyotes while Rasmussen had 13 digs.