VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota dug deep and showed great resiliency in fighting back to earn a hard-fought five-set victory over Oral Roberts in a Summit League match on Saturday afternoon inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Set scores were 27-29, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 15-6.
 
The Coyotes rallied from a 2-1 set deficit and faced a 15-19 hole in the fourth set before outscoring the Golden Eagles 10-1 to win the fourth set and then never trailed in winning the fifth set 15-6.
 
"A good win," coach Leanne Williamson said. "We kind of expected a back-and-forth match, a match that potentially could go five sets."
 
South Dakota, now 9-4 overall and 8-1 in the Summit with its fifth-straight win, placed three players in double figures in kills in posting a .233 hitting percentage in the win. Five players registered double digits in kills for a defense, that along with 14 total team blocks, limited Oral Roberts to a .122 hitting percentage.
 
Elizabeth Juhnke had 22 kills and 15 digs to record her ninth double-double of the season. The sophomore had nine kills in set four, including five in the closing 10-1 run.
 
"I do like how we fought back in some of those situations, especially in set four when our backs were against the wall," said Williamson. "Really, what we tried to focus on, just stay true to us, stay disciplined and even offensively, knowing what shots are going to work for us, knowing what openings there are for us to take advantage of.
 
"We try to focus on each ball, one at a time and playing at a much-higher level of ball then what we were up to that point, that's how we came back in set four."
 
Sami Slaughter, who finished with 13 kills, had four in the decisive fifth set, a set that saw no ties and no lead changes compared to a total of 35 ties and 17 lead changes for the match.
 
Seven different Coyotes recorded digs in the fifth set as Oral Roberts hit a negative .111 in the final set.
 
"Set five, you saw us firing on all cylinders," Williamson added. "We had to make some big plays early on and you saw us playing relaxed and playing loose again which is when we play some of our best volleyball."
 
Aimee Adams matched a career-high with 10 kills to go with 11 digs for her second collegiate double-double, while junior setter Madison Jurgens contributed 51 assists, 10 digs and two service aces, pushing her career total over 100.
 
Lolo Weideman notched a career-high with 29 digs to go with five assists and Brooklyn Bollweg reached double figures in digs for the second time this season with 11, to go with three service aces, including one in the crucial fifth set.
 
Madison Harms, the Summit League leads in blocks, had seven in the match while Adams and Maddie Wiedenfeld added five apiece.
 
Aixa Vigil had 21 kills and 19 digs for Oral Roberts, playing its sixth five-set match out of nine in Summit League play.
 
The two teams match up again at 1 p.m. on Sunday inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.