DENVER – Elizabeth Juhnke registered a match-high 24 kills and
Madison Harms added a career-high 13 blocks in South Dakota's reverse sweep of Denver Thursday night. The Coyotes rallied after Denver took the first two sets to sweep the remaining three and move to 8-1 in league play and 19-2 overall. Game scores went 15-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-12.
Who Stood Out
South Dakota outblocked one of the nation's leading blocking teams with 16 blocks to Denver's 13. Harms led the effort for the Coyotes, tallying a career-high 13 blocks while adding six kills.
Denver (12-9, 6-4 Summit) was led by middle blocker Hailey Green, who totaled 19 kills and three blocks for the Pioneers. Green was closely followed by outside hitter Jordan Lockwood's 16 kills.
Turning Point
Denver come out of the gate hot, taking an early lead in set one and riding it to two straight set wins. The Pioneers were able to use a strong presence at the net, a solid back row effort, and strong serving to hold South Dakota to a negative hitting percent in set one. Set three saw the Coyotes' fire reignited, putting up three early blocks to take an 8-3 lead early in set three. Harms tallied five of her 13 blocks in set three while Weideman put on a strong effort in the back row with seven digs. The third set win bolstered the Coyotes, while Juhnke tallied eight of her 24 kills in set four to force a fifth set. A .412 hitting clip for South Dakota in set five helped seal the reverse sweep.
Notable
- Juhnke added seven blocks to South Dakota's strong presence at the net.
- Lolo Weideman had a match-high 19 digs, while Kamryn Farris followed with 11 digs.
- Schram added 37 assists and eight digs for the Coyotes.
Quotable
"I am really proud of this team for finding a way to win," said head coach
Leanne Williamson. "Good teams force you to do things out of your comfort zone, and Denver did that to us a lot tonight. Our block really came up big tonight, and Harms was a big part of that! Finding a way to win in an opponent's gym is important, and we stayed patient until we were able to put things together on our end."
