First Serve
South Dakota earned a gritty five-set win at North Dakota Tuesday before 3-0 sweeping both Western Illinois and St. Thomas over the weekend. The Coyotes continue to sit atop the league standings and hold a two-game lead heading into their last road weekend. South Dakota heads to Kansas City to take on the Roos at 7 p.m. Thursday before heading to Oral Roberts for a 1 p.m. match on Saturday.
 
The Coyotes
At 24-2, South Dakota boasts the sixth-best record in the country. The Coyotes have won 11 straight matches and their 12-game home win streak is Division I's ninth-longest active streak.
 
Elizabeth Juhnke continues to lead the nation in kills per set and recorded 18 kills in South Dakota's 3-0 win over St. Thomas on Saturday, which boosted her season total to 557 and tied the USD program record for most kills in a season. As Brooklyn Schram continues to recover from injury, freshman Madi Woodin has taken the reins at setter and put up at least 30 assists in all five of her starts.
 
Libero Lolo Weideman picked up her second defensive player of the week honor of the season on Tuesday after averaging 4.55 digs per set through USD's 3-0 week of league play last week. Weideman continues to lead the league in digs per set. Middle blocker Madison Harms is looking at 500 career blocks as she is just five shy of that milestone. Her 1.23 blocks per set are third in the Summit. Junior transfer Alaina Wolff tallied a career-high 18 digs in South Dakota's 3-2 win over North Dakota last week.
 
The Roos
Kansas City (8-19) just earned a big win over preseason favorite Denver on Saturday, defeating the Pioneers in four sets. The win snapped a three-match losing streak for the Roos and put a stop to Denver's four-match winning streak. The Roos, now 5-9 in Summit play, sit in seventh and are looking to edge South Dakota State and earn the sixth tournament spot.
 
Junior middle blocker Carly Gillen led the Roos to the 3-1 win over Denver with a season-high 13 kills. Junior outside hitter Odyssey Warren, who recorded eight kills against South Dakota earlier this season, matched Gillen with 13 kills of her own. As a team, the Roos hit a season-high .316 for the match, with Gillen leading the way with just one error in 17 attacks for a .706 hitting clip. Senior setter Kennedy Schritenthal holds down the back court for the Roos, averaging 4.24 digs per set which sits just two spots below Weideman's league leading 4.74 digs per set.
 
The Golden Eagles
Frank Craig III took the reins of the Oral Roberts volleyball program in the spring of 2020 following two years as an assistant coach. In his second season at the helm last year, Craig led the Golden Eagles to their most wins (18) since 2016. Oral Roberts (7-19, 4-10 Summit) is looking to snap a five-game losing streak this week. The Golden Eagles' last win was a 3-1 victory over South Dakota State on Oct. 15.
 
Senior middle blocker Sakira LaCour is ORU's first line of defense at the net with a 1.19 blocks per set average that sits at fourth in the league. The last time the Coyotes and Golden Eagles met, South Dakota was able to hit around LaCour, holding her to just one block through three sets.
 
Senior setter Kalena Vaivai, a transfer from Utah State, recorded a double-double against the Yotes earlier this season and continues to lead the Golden Eagles at 6.44 assists per set. As a squad, the Golden Eagles average a league-best 15.98 digs per set.
 
Record Breaking Play

• Juhnke's 18 kills against St. Thomas brought her to a 557 season total, which ties the USD program record for most kills in a season. She shares the record with Kendall Kritenbrink (2013).
• Juhnke recorded a Summit-record and program-record 39 kills in South Dakota's five-set match against North Dakota State on Sept. 27. That tally remains the top performance in the nation this season.
• Juhnke set a USD three-set program record with 24 kills in a 3-0 sweep of Oral Roberts on Oct. 13.
• Weideman hit a career mark in the Sept. 24 Denver match, totaling 34 digs and matching the four-set program record.
• Harms recorded a career-high 13 blocks in a 3-2 win against Denver on Oct. 20, which ties for second in the five-set program record.

 
Up Next
The Coyotes return to Vermillion to host the last regular season weekend of the season. South Dakota will face North Dakota State on Thursday at 7 p.m. before taking on North Dakota on Saturday at 4:45 p.m. Saturday is also senior day for the Coyotes.