First Serve
South Dakota (29-3) will face Houston in Friday's 3:30 p.m. first-round matchup inside D.J. Sokol Arena. The winner will advance to the next round on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and will face the winner of the Creighton vs. Auburn match.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota is coming off a historic season as they won the regular season championship and the Summit League tournament in the same season for the first time in program history. The Coyotes are headed into their fourth NCAA tournament in the last five seasons and are led by Summit League Coach of the Year Leanne Williamson, who led her squad to a third straight Summit League tournament championship last weekend. After earning a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed, the Coyotes swept both of their opponents in three straight sets.
 
Summit League Player of the Year Elizabeth Juhnke continues to lead the nation in kills with 660 on the season. She's just 13 kills away from reaching 2,000 career kills, which would make her the lone member of the 2,000-kill club at South Dakota. Summit League Defensive Player of the Year Lolo Weideman holds down the back court for the Coyotes with a league-leading 4.60 digs per set. Weideman put up 13 digs in South Dakota's 3-0 semifinal win over Denver and nine digs against Omaha in the championship match.
 
Freshman setter Madi Woodin has taken over as the starting setter as Brooklyn Schram continues to recover from injury. Woodin has settled in nicely and was named to the all-tournament team at the Summit League Tournament last weekend after putting up at least 30 assists in both matches. She recorded seven double-doubles in 11 starts.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Kylen Sealock recently joined the rotation. She tallied a career-high 14 kills in South Dakota's sweep of Omaha in the championship match, earning a spot on the all-tournament team for the first time in her career.
 
The Cougars
Houston (28-3) is joining the NCAA tournament lineup for the first time since 2000 after earning an automatic bid as the co-champions of the American Athletic Conference. It was the Cougars' first conference championship since 1999, and their 28 wins are the most the team has recorded since before the NCAA added volleyball in 1980.
 
Junior libero Kate Georgiades was unanimously voted The American Libero of the Year by the league's coaches, while head coach David Rehr was named Coach of the Year. Georgiades earned the libero of the year for the second straight season after averaging a league-leading 5.46 digs per set, which ranks eighth in the country. Tallying 34 digs against Tulsa on Nov. 11, she set a new program-best for digs in a three-set match.
 
Rehr guided the team to its highest win total since 1980. Houston followed up a four-set loss to #1 Texas by going on a program-record 20-match win streak that included 11 straight-set victories. Rehr's squad finished the regular season with 28-3 record, including a 19-1 record in conference play.
 
Senior outside hitter Abbie Jackson was named to the American all-conference first team for the third team in her career after leading Houston with 3.87 kills per set through the season. Jackson has tallied 11 double-doubles on the season, including an 18-kill and 15-dig performance in Houston's 3-2 loss to UCF on Nov. 25, the Cougars' only conference loss on the season.
 
Series
Friday marks the first meeting between South Dakota and Houston.