Juhnke heading home to lead Coyotes against Gophers

Elizabeth Juhnke is going back to her home state this week to play volleyball against the school she grew up watching. In the crowd, she’ll be able to hear a lot of the people who watched her grow up.

That’s a pretty cool scenario and probably about the best Juhnke and USD could have hoped for when they were waiting for their first-round NCAA tournament opponent to be announced on Sunday.

During that gathering, the Coyotes learned they’d be facing the University of Minnesota on Friday in a 7 p.m. match at Maturi Pavilion, where the Gophers play their home matches. 

It will be the first time USD has faced Minnesota, seeded No. 12 nationally, but it will not be the first time Juhnke has been to Maturi Pavilion, considered one of the top college volleyball venues in the nation. 

The former star at Lakeville North High School went to Gopher volleyball camps when she was younger and worked with Minnesota coaches at her own high school’s volleyball camp. She also knows several of the Gopher players, including C.C. McGraw and Elle Huseman, who she played against in high school.

“Seeing people you know on the other side of the net in a big match like this will be fun,” she said. “So will having so many of our own fans and a lot of people who probably haven’t gotten a chance to see me play. Plus, we’re playing a really good Big Ten team. It’s another great experience to put on our resume.”

This will be the third trip to the NCAA tournament for the Coyotes in the last four years, marking an unprecedented string of success for the program, which moved to Division I beginning with the 2008 season. 

Since entering the program in 2019, Juhnke has unquestionably emerged as one of the Coyotes’ all-time greats. She was the Summit League Freshman of the Year in 2019 and a first-team all-Summit player, then earned first-team all-conference honors again last year, while also being named an honorable mention All-American. She has led the Summit League – and USD – in kills for three consecutive seasons. 

Given that she was named the player of the year by both Twin Cities daily newspapers, it was not exactly a shock that this 6-foot outside hitter was an excellent player right away at USD. Perhaps the bigger surprise is that a Division I major college could not convince her to take a different route. 

From Juhnke’s perspective, the choice to come to USD centered around her impression of the coaching staff and the program’s culture.

“I wanted to have an impact right away and I wanted to play six rotations,” Juhnke said. “A lot of schools told me I was a little small to play in that kind of system. It’s not always fun to hear what other coaches have to say about you sometimes. At South Dakota, though, I could tell my coaches saw a lot of potential in me. When coaches see that potential – when they indicate they really want you – that draws you to their program. I absolutely love our coaching staff and I love our team.”

Asking Juhnke when she first remembers being interested in volleyball is like asking her when she first got interested in breathing. Both her mother and father were volleyball players at IPFW – the Mastodons have had a men’s varsity volleyball program for four decades – and she really can’t remember a day when the sport wasn’t part of family life. The sport is a persistent topic at the Juhnke home, she said. It gets to the point where occasionally they will make a mutual decision to talk about anything but volleyball for a time just to give the subject a little rest.

“I was a baby getting passed around at convention centers watching my dad play,” she said. “I started out at these little Saturday morning clinics my dad was putting on when I was in kindergarten. Even before that, I was learning to pass the ball in our backyard.”

Leading the conference in kills three straight years is all the evidence anyone needs to surmise her background is a factor in how she was able to make a league-wide splash immediately. The Coyotes’ sustained success since she’s been here offers up more of that evidence. It also indicates she has talented teammates.

The contest with Minnesota includes a reunion of sorts with the program’s former coach. Matt Houk escorted the Coyotes into the Division I era before taking a job as an assistant at Minnesota for head coach Hugh McCutcheon, a former national coach of both the men’s and women’s programs.

Houk hired Williamson as an assistant during his time in Vermillion, so the connection remains.

“I’m so happy he’s having success there,” Williamson said. “And I know he’s happy for the Coyotes’ success. This place meant a lot to him during his time here. We stay in touch – we have a good relationship and I’m looking forward to seeing him again.”

Juhnke is looking forward to seeing Minnesota and the NCAA tournament again. It’s not exactly the same kind of connection but it does involve a sense of familiarity. In this return trip she will be bringing teammates, a coaching staff and most importantly, a distinctive program culture along with her.