VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota will be playing for a Summit League championship thanks to a dramatic and thrilling five-set semifinal win over South Dakota State on Friday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Set scores were 20-25, 25-18, 25-20, 24-26, 18-16.
 
The Coyotes, similar to the regular season finale at North Dakota State, staved off three match-point attempts by the Jackrabbits to pull out the final set 18-16. South Dakota failed to capitalize on multiple match points in set four as South Dakota State pushed the match to five sets.
 
It was the first five-set match between in-state rivals since 2012 and just the third in 25 meetings in the Division I era.
 
"Extremely tough game from state to finish," coach Leanne Williamson said. "Hats off to South Dakota State, they played an extremely good match and just from state to finish made us have to work for everything.
 
"Even when we felt, I don't want to say comfortable though, we felt like we were moving in the right direction they were able to kind of fight back and enforce us to have to do more. So they played a really good match."
 
South Dakota will square off with Omaha as the top two seeds battle for the Summit League tournament championship on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
The two teams split a pair of regular season meetings with each winning on the other's home floor. The winner will earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
 
"I think we're going to work on getting just a little bit cleaner tomorrow, but we found ways to make plays when our backs were against the wall," said Williamson. "We didn't back off and that's something that I'm really proud of this team for doing."
 
Elizabeth Juhnke had 23 kills and 19 digs to register her 16^th double-double on the season as the Coyotes had three players reach double figures in kills in the match.
 
Madison Harms had 15 kills, hitting .481, to go with three total blocks while Sami Slaughter had 10 kills and Maddie Wiedenfeld nine to go with a career-high seven digs.
 
Madison Jurgens contributed 59 assists and 11 digs while Lolo Weideman had 20 digs as five Coyotes hit double digits in digs. Brooklyn Bollweg and Aimee Adams posted 13 digs apiece.
 
Crystal Burk led South Dakota State with 19 kills while Chloe Stitt had 16 kills for a Jackrabbits team that was playing in the Summit League tournament for the first time since 2010.