KANSAS CITY, Missouri – South Dakota volleyball earned a pair of victories Friday on the opening day of the Kangaroo Klassic inside the Swinney Rec Center.
 
The Coyotes earned three-set sweeps over Tulsa (25-17, 25-21, 25-22) and host Kansas City (25-14, 25-22, 25-16) in moving to 5-1 on the season.
 
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South Dakota had a strong .263 hitting percentage in the match as four individuals contributed six or more kills.
 
Elizabeth Juhnke led the way offensively with 13 kills, Sami Slaughter had 11 while Elizabeth Loschen added seven and Maddie Wiedenfeld six.
 
Madison Jurgens contributed 35 assists, three kills and six digs while Anne Rasmussen had 12 digs to pace the defense from the back row. Juhnke had nine digs while Lolo Weideman and Mehana Fonseca added eight digs apiece.
 
"This was a good win to start the weekend," coach Leanne Williamson said. "I was happy to see our team bounce back from Tuesday and make some important changes that were key to our success.
 
"Our serving, blocking and defense really set the pace and allowed our offense to stay patient throughout the match. Tulsa pushed us, but I was happy to see our resiliency in those situations."
 
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Five individuals registered six or more kills as the Coyotes used a season-best .346 hitting percentage in posting their third sweep of the season.
 
Juhnke, a freshman, led the way with 13 kills while Sami Slaughter also reached double figures with 10 kills. Maddie Wiedenfeld had eight and chipping in with six apiece were Loschen and Claire Gerdes.
 
Jurgens contributed 38 assists while Anne Rasmussen had 13 digs and moved past Audrey Reeg into fourth on the school's career digs chart in the contest. Juhnke added 11 digs while Fonseca had eight, Slaughter six and Weideman and Jurgens five each.
 
"This win against Kansas City is a great win for us," Williamson said. "They are a very good team and will win a lot of matches this year.
 
"We played with intent today across all areas of our game. I was happy to see some different people step up and make plays when we needed it. The team followed the scouting report well and we were able to find some good matchups for us."
 
South Dakota closes the Kangaroo Klassic with Saturday's 11 a.m. contest against Louisiana Tech.
 
"This weekend is far from over and we need to stay focused for our last match against a scrappy La Tech team," Williamson added.