VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota all-American outside hitter Elizabeth Juhnke delivered a match-high 15 kills in front of a record crowd of 2,774 inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center as the Coyotes battled No. 4 Louisville Friday in their season opener.
 
The Cardinals got 10 kills each from all-American Anna DeBeer and Aiko Jones and swept the match 25-14, 25-14, 25-20 to move to 2-0. Louisville was undefeated during the regular season last year en route to the program's first Final Four appearance.
 
The record crowd, dressed almost entirely in white, surpassed the previous mark for a volleyball match of 2,431 set against Georgia Tech in the championship game of the NIVC in 2019.
 
"What an incredible atmosphere," said USD head coach Leanne Williamson. "Bringing a Final Four team and a team that's ranked right now four in the country is exciting for not only us, but our fans. I was amazed at the atmosphere, the environment and I really can't thank everybody enough for coming out and showing that support. A couple times, I caught myself smiling just because of how amazing that was."
 
Juhnke's 15 kills came on 41 swings with six errors and a .220 hitting percentage. She was complimented by middle blockers Madison Harms (6) and Brynn Paumen (4), who combined for 10 kills. Junior Brooklyn Schram, in her first collegiate start at setter, dished out 23 assists while libero Lolo Weideman led all players with 11 digs.


 
South Dakota hung with Louisville for the first rallies of each of the first two sets before playing a more competitive third set. Alaina Wolff, a junior transfer from Wayne State, logged the Coyotes' lone ace of the match and it tied the first set at 10-10. Louisville answered with a 10-1 rally to take control. Jones had five kills in the first set and the Cardinals hit .478 as a team.
 
Juhnke took just six swings in set one, but got it rolling in set two. Back-to-back kills by Juhnke cut Louisville's lead to 11-9 in the frame. But Jones served six straight Louisville points and had three aces during the run to make it 19-10. South Dakota hit .321 in set two, but the Cardinals stayed hot and hit .462.
 
USD junior Mattie Johnson entered the fray in set three and delivered the kill that pulled the Coyotes within one at 15-14. Louisville got back-to-back kills from Claire Chaussee and an ace from DeBeer during a 4-0 run that pushed the lead to 19-14. Blocks from Harms and Juhnke closed the gap to 22-19 before Louisville closed it out.
 
"The thing that I'm really happy about is I don't think our team ever backed off," said Williamson. "We talked going into this match that competing was one of the main focuses that we needed to have, and I thought our team did that really well. I never felt that things were being done out of fear, and I think in some ways we got better as the match went on and more confident and took a few more risks and that paid off."
 
South Dakota returns to host Northern Kentucky in what will be the fifth game of the Coyote Invitational. The Norse were runners-up in the Horizon League last year during a 20-8 campaign. NKU lost to Louisville and dropped a five-set match to Missouri Friday. The Coyotes meet Missouri Sunday at 1 p.m.