BROOKINGS, S.D. — South Dakota volleyball battled but ultimately fell in five sets to St. Thomas Monday night in the semifinals round of the Summit League Championships at First Bank & Trust Arena. 
 
Freshman Ava Ball put away a game high 20 kills on a .296 hitting percentage, while senior Kamryn Farris had a match high 32 kills, her first match this season and fifth of her career with 30+ digs. Sierra Pokharel tallied a career high 19 digs and had two aces. 
 
Avery Van Hook matched her career high of 58 assists and notched a double-double with 16 digs. All 5 of the Coyote hitters/middles reached double-digit kills with 12 from Lauren Medeck and Amanda Loschen, 11 from Audrey Nelson and 10 from Morgan Bode. Loschen hit .400 on the night with seven blocks (one solo), while Medeck had a double-double with 13 digs. 
 
The Yotes had more kills (67-56), digs (97-93), and aces (6-3) but committed 11 more hitting errors than the Tommies (30-19). 
 
The score tied once in the opening set at 1-1, and it was the Tommies who held a lead throughout the entire first set. The Yotes put away 17 kills to the Tommies' 11 but eight hitting errors and four service errors by the Coyotes would be the difference in the first set.
 
Ball got the Coyote offense moving in the second set as she put away five kills on an errorless 11 swings (.455%). Van Hook dished out 14 assists, to put her two-set tally up to 29, while Farris had 17 digs after the first two frames. Ball got the set moving with a kill, and after three straight hitting errors by the Tommies, the Yotes held an early 5-2 edge. Back-to-back kills from Medeck gave the Yotes a 16-11 advantage, the Tommies would make in interesting late by pulling within one, 21-20. A kill by Loschen, an ace by Pokharel and a Loschen-Nelson block moved the Yotes to set point 24-21 and Medeck's fifth kill even the match at one set apiece.
 
The Coyote attack picked up the pace in the third set, hitting .394 with 16 kills to take the third 25-16. Ball again led the way for the Yotes with seven kills on 14 swings. The score tied eight times early in the third, before a 9-1 run put the Yotes in the driver's seat, 20-13. Medeck started the run with a kill and would hold serve for seven straight Coyote points and had an ace. Ball closed out the seven straight points with three kills in a row. A pair of kills from Loschen and a termination from Nelson moved the Yotes up 2-1 in the match.
 
For the second time on the night, Ball started the set off with a kill as the Yotes scored the first four points. It was the Tommies who made the run near the middle of the set to take a 14-12 advantage with six straight. The Yotes, however, answered with a 4-1 spurt off a pair of kills from Bode and an ace from Katherine Thompson. St. Thomas scored nine of the next 11 points to force a fifth set, 25-19.
 
The Tommies jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the fifth set, and while the Coyotes pushed back to pull within four, 13-9, back-to-back kills from Tezra Rudzitis closed out a 3-2 match win for the Tommies. 
 
 
Notes
·       The Yotes move to 20-9 on the season
·       Ava Ball set a new career high with 20 kills, while Sierra Pokharel had a career best 19 digs
·       Ball swung at a .296 clip and Pokharel had a pair of aces
·       All five of the Coyote hitters/blockers reached double-digit kills
·       Kamryn Farris tallied 32 digs, her first match of the season with 30+ digs
·       Avery Van Hook matched her career high of 58 assists and notched her 20^th double-double of the season with 16 digs
·       Amanda Loschen hit .400 on the evening, her 11^th match of the season hitting .400+
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