KANSAS CITY, Mo. – South Dakota scored the final nine points of the match and won a thrilling five-set contest over Kansas City on Saturday afternoon inside the Swinney Center.
 
The Coyotes and Roos battled through the fourth-straight meeting that went five sets, while this match included a combined 129 kills and 350 attacks.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
The match, lasting two hours and 36 minutes, also featured 29 ties and 14 lead changes, the last lead change coming as South Dakota rallied from down 9-6 in the fifth set to win 15-9.
 
The Coyotes, now 6-7 overall and 3-1 in Summit League play, had taken the first two sets by identical 25-20 scores. Kansas City, falling to 12-5 overall and 3-2 in Summit League play, came back to win set three 25-21 and set four 25-19.
 
"I am so proud of this team and how we responded today," coach Leanne Williamson said. "Our back was against the wall and we did something that we hadn't seen consistently this year which was be resilient.
 
"We played great defense down the stretch and transitioned out really efficiently."
 
South Dakota trailed in the fifth set 4-1, then 6-3 and 9-6 before beginning the rally with a Maddie Wiedenfeld kill. Brooklyn Schram came on to serve and wound up serving out the match as the Coyotes used six kills and two attack errors from Kansas City to close it out. Madison Harms had three kills, Sami Slaughter two and Madison Jurgens one during the run.
 
Schram, a sophomore, had one service ace in 18 serves and also chipped in four digs, many of those coming during the critical final run in the fifth set.
 
"Schram came up big with a huge serving run in the fifth!" said Williamson.
 
Slaughter, a fifth-year senior, had her best match of the season registering a season-high and career-high with 22 kills to go with one solo and three block assists.
 
Harms, a junior, notched a career-high with 16 kills, had only one attack error for a .625 hitting percentage and added five block assists.
 
Elizabeth Juhnke, a junior, reached double figures in kills for the 13 match and posted her eighth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 17 digs. Juhnke moved past Michelle Hesse into 10^th on the Coyotes career kill list in the match.
 
"Sami was really good today and was able to score points in some really important situations for us," added Williamson. "Harms was consistently great both offensively and defensively."
 
The Coyote offense, which had a season-high 68 kills, saw senior setter Madison Jurgens equal her career-high with 57 assists.

The defense, limiting Kansas City to a .188 hitting percentage, had nine total blocks and 74 digs.
 
Lolo Weideman, a senior libero, had 25 digs and four assists while Brooklyn Bollweg had seven digs, Jadyn Jondle five and Jurgens five.
 
The Coyotes, closing out a three match in five-day stretch and that was also four matches in eight days to begin Summit League play will return to the court on Thursday inside the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls against league newcomer St. Thomas.
 
"Taking matches on the road in this league is difficult so each win is incredibly important," said Williamson. "We are looking forward to getting home next weekend and continuing to improve with a few more practices throughout the week."