VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota volleyball kicked off the second half of the Summit League season with a 3-1 win over Denver Thursday night in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. Ava Ball and Audrey Nelson powered the Coyote attack with a combined 26 kills.
 
Ball led the Yotes in kills for the first time in her career and matched her career high with 14 kills on 30 swings and also had one block. Nelson was scorching at the net with 12 kills on an errorless 19 swings for a .632 hitting percentage and also had three blocks and four digs.
 
In sets two and four, Nelson put away seven kills on seven swings as the Yotes hit .621 in the second and .400 in the fourth as a team. In total, USD had four players hit at .333+. The Coyote attack was potent in the second as they put away a season single-set best 21 kills with four players tallying four or more kills led by Morgan Bode's six.
 
After the Pioneers took the first set, the second frame was closely contested until a 5-1 run featuring five kills from Ball (three) and Bode (two) gave the Yotes their largest lead of the night to that point at 18-11. After trading points over the next five rallies, Nelson and Bode put away back-to-back kills and Bode teamed up with Medeck to push the Yotes ahead 23-14. Bode's sixth kill of the set moved USD to set point, and Avery Van Hook called her own number to close out a 25-15 set win.
 
The third set was the most hectic of the four with the score tying 18 times and the lead changing on eight occasions. Denver slowed down a Coyote attack that put away 21 kills on 29 swings in set two by holding USD to a .250 swing rate in the third. South Dakota's defense, however, tallied 15 digs and four blocks while holding Denver to a .176 attack rate. Nelson led the way with four kills on five swings, while Medeck added four. Denver built a lead at the midway point of the set, but the Yotes stormed back to tie it at 19-19 with a 6-2 run. Medeck and Nelson accounted for three of the final five Coyote points, while Bode closed out the third with a solo rejection to give USD a 25-23 win.
 
Denver stayed with the Yotes early in the fourth, but USD poured it on with a pair of 6-0 runs to move to set point holding a 24-12 advantage. Sam Untiedt held serve for both of the Coyote six-point runs and had an ace in the first streak. Nelson had a pair of kills in the first run, while Bode had two kills and a solo block in the second spurt. Medeck closed the match out with her 10^th kill of the night to give USD a 25-13 set and 3-1 match win.
 
Denver was hot from the jump with a .550 swing rate in the opening set and held USD to a .233 clip. The Pios pulled away in the opener with a pair of 3-0 runs, while not allowing the Yotes to string together more than two points in a row, to gain a 20-14 edge. Denver closed out the set with four straight points, including three aces in a row to take the set 25-17.
 
The Coyotes will look to make it three straight wins on Saturday when they host North Dakota in the SCSC at 5 p.m.
 
Notes

• The Yotes have won five of their last six matches and move to 14-7 on the season and 6-3 in Summit League play
• Audrey Nelson put away 11 kills on 12 swings with no errors across sets two through 4
• Ava Ball tied her career-high of 14 kills on the night and led the Yotes in kills for the first time this season
• The Coyotes 21 kills in the second set was the most in a single-set this season. The Yotes hit .621 in the second
• Four Coyotes hit above .300 on the night
• Lauren Medeck tallied a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 17 digs
• USD has hit .365+ in each of the last two matches and for the fourth time this year
• The Yotes have now won three straight matches after dropping the first set
• It was the first match of the season where the Yotes held an opponent to 15 points or fewer in multiple sets