FIRST SERVE
The South Dakota Coyotes (12-8, 9-2) return to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for Saturday's 1 p.m. match against Oral Roberts (14-6, 8-3).

THE COYOTES
South Dakota enters the back half of a critical home weekend in third place in the Summit League, a game back in the loss column from first-place Omaha (10-1) and Denver (9-1). 
Elizabeth Juhnke, who has reached double figures in kills in all but one match, leads the offensive attack at 3.55 kills per set. The junior averages 3.74 kills per set in league play to go with 2.91 digs per set. 
Madison Harms, a junior, is contributing 2.48 kills per set and senior Sami Slaughter 2.53 for a team that is averaging 12.66 kills per set while posting a .241 attack percentage in all matches. 
Aimee Adams, a junior, adds 1.89 kills per set and senior Maddie Wiedenfeld 1.66 for an offense directed by senior setter Madison Jurgens who is at 10.00 assists per set. 
South Dakota ranks second in the Summit League in blocks per set (2.39) as Harms, who leads the Summit League in solo blocks with 20, is averaging 1.32 blocks per set, second in the Summit.
Harms also ranks second in the Summit League and 22nd nationally in hitting percentage at .404 while Wiedenfeld is seventh at .304. 
Defensively, senior libero Lolo Weideman is averaging 4.52 digs per set while Jurgens is at 1.92. 

LAST TIME OUT
South Dakota needed just four sets to get past Kansas City, snapping a string of four straight five-setters between the two teams.
Juhnke had 16 kills and 12 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Slaughter and Wiedenfeld had 13 kills apiece while Harms had nine and Adams eight.
Harms posted a season-high nine total blocks in the match as South Dakota had 13 as a team, the most in a Summit League match this season for the team.
Weideman had 29 digs and Adams 10 as the Coyotes had a four-set high for the season of 74 digs. 

ORAL ROBERTS
Oral Roberts, sitting a game behind South Dakota in the Summit League standings, still has to face Denver twice, the first comes on Monday.
The Golden Eagles have a balanced offensive attack with five players averaging between 2.14 and 2.89 kills per set. 
Trinity Freeman paces the front row attackers at 2.89 kills per set and it's up to 3.11 during league play.
Sakira LaCour, the Summit League leader in blocks per set, averages 3.59 kills per set to go with 1.38 blocks per set. 
Aixa Vigil is at 2.81, Jaxie Wakley 2.14 and Jeslyn Spencer 1.79 kills per set for an offense directed by setter Bryanne Soares, who averages 9.93 assists per set.
Sarah Thiessen averages 4.36 digs per set while Soares is at 2.76.

LAST TIME OUT
Oral Roberts, despite dominating most of the statistical categories, suffered a five-set loss at South Dakota State. 
The Golden Eagles had 76 kills to SDSU's 55, hit .308 to SDSU's .160 and outblocked the hosts 13-8. However, the Jacks staved off three match points in the fifth set to win the match.
Wakley and Freeman each tallied 18 kills in the loss while LaCour had 16 and Spencer 14.
LaCour also became the first ORU player to record a double-digit block match since 2018. It was the first double-double of her career.


THE SERIES
Oral Roberts snapped a six-match losing streak in the series with a four-set home win on Sept. 30. 
The Coyotes lead the series in the Division I era 13-5 and have won eight straight at home. 

UP NEXT
The Coyotes will hit the road for games at Western Illinois on Thursday and St. Thomas on Saturday.