South Dakota got a match-high 14 kills from Elizabeth Juhnke while Brooklyn Schram had 34 assists and 13 digs in a 3-0 sweep of Northern Kentucky Saturday on day two of the Coyote Invitational. Scores went 25-23, 25-13 and 25-23.
 
The Coyotes improved to 1-1 on the young season while Northern Kentucky, the runner-up in the Horizon League last year, fell to 0-3. South Dakota faces Missouri (1-1) in the tournament's final game Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
South Dakota paired solid defense with a balanced offense while leading the match nearly from start to finish. The Coyotes racked up 11 blocks, surrendered just three aces and limited the Norse to a .043 hitting percentage (25-21-94). Madison Harms had five block assists to go with six kills. Fellow middle blocker Brynn Paumen had a solo block and four assisted blocks to go with five kills for USD.
 
Aimee Adams had seven kills for South Dakota, Evelyn Diederich had six and the Coyotes hit .208 overall (40-19-101).
 
"To win in a sweep is really hard to come by, especially in a tournament with four really good quality opponents," said USD head coach Leanne Williamson. "We had 11 team blocks, which is a really good number in a three-set match. I think it made them think a little bit offensively, which put us in a better position as well.
 
"Brooklyn did a good job of moving the ball around, getting different people involved and keeping their defense guessing a little bit more. Elizabeth came out again today. Had two of her three errors early on in the match and then finished really strong and hit over .300. Her success opens the floor for other people, which was good to see."
 
Juhnke's fourth kill of the opening set gave USD a 22-18 lead, but the Norse rallied to score the next four points. A Harms' kill ended the run and she assisted on a block with Adams to make it 24-23. A Lolo Weideman ace closed out the opening set.
 
South Dakota hit .393 (13-2-28) during a second set in which the Coyotes led 14-5. Diederich had four kills with no errors on seven swings in set two. Adams and Juhnke had three kills apiece.
 
Three quick kills by Juhnke helped USD to a 10-4 lead in set three. Anna Burke had all three NKU aces in the match and she fired two in a row to ignite a Norse rally that closed the gap to 14-13. Another front-row rotation with Juhnke fueled a Coyote counter and USD led 22-17. That gap closed to 24-23 before a service error ended the match.
 
Abby Kanakry led the Norse with nine kills, Anna Brinkmann chipped in six and Burke led all players with 16 digs.