VERMILLION, S.D. — After two weeks on the road to kick off the season, South Dakota volleyball returns to Sanford Coyote Sports Center this weekend for the Coyote Invitational. The Yotes welcome Green Bay, Florida Gulf Coast and Kansas to the SCSC.
 
Coyote Invitational Schedule
Thursday, September 11
4:00 p.m. • Kansas vs. FGCU
7:00 p.m. • South Dakota vs Green Bay • Military, First Responders & Health Care Appreciation Night
Friday, September 12
4:00 p.m. • Kansas vs. Green Bay
7:00 p.m. • South Dakota vs FGCU • Camper Reunion & Battle of the Halls
Saturday, September 6
10:00 a.m. • Green Bay vs FGCU
5:00 p.m. • South Dakota vs Kansas • Wear White & Championship Banner Unveiling
 
Where To Watch

• All six matches of the Coyote Invitational will be streamed on Midco Sports Plus.
• Trevan Rychlik will be on the call for the Coyotes matches against Green Bay and Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday and Friday.
• Daniel Ver Steeg will be the man on the mic for the Yotes match vs Kansas Saturday night.

 
Key Storylines

• Next up for South Dakota volleyball is the Coyote Invitational presented by Premier Real Estate.
• The Yotes sit at 4-2 through the first two weekends of play after posting 2-1 records at the 2025 EVEN Hotel Bobcat Invite and the Top Dogs Challenge.
• In USD's first Power 4 matchup of the season, the Yotes battled but fell to the Ducks to four sets (21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 17-25). The Coyotes have another P4 opponent on the schedule when they welcome No. 17 Kansas to the SCSC on Sept. 13.
• Of the 12 nonconference games on the Coyote schedule, five were NCAA Tournament teams a season ago (Oregon, Kansas, Colgate, FGCU and Wichita State).
• The reigning Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, Kamryn Farris, has picked up right where she left off in her junior season. The Coyotes lone senior leads the Summit League in total digs (112), digs per set (4.87) and aces (13).
• Farris has picked up both Summit League's Kwik Star Defensive Peak Performer of the Week honors to start the year and has five in her career.
• In year two with the Yotes, Lauren Medeck continues to build off a strong freshman season last year, as she leads the conference in kills (92) and total points (103.0). Medeck's put together five straight double-doubles with kills and digs and ranks fourth in the league with 69 digs.
• The floor general, Avery Van Hook, paces the conference with 237 total assists and a 10.30 assists per set average. Van Hook also ranks No. 5 in digs (68). She ranks No. 15 in the NCAA in total assists.
• Yotes in Europe! The Coyotes took their first foreign trip as a program this offseason, spending nearly two weeks in Spain and Portugal. South Dakota played four matches across their stay against Next Level Voleibol and Caep Soria Voleibol.
• Leanne Williamson enters year 12 as the head coach at USD and holds a program best 235-103 record.

Back-2-Back Defensive PPOTW

• The reigning Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, Kamryn Farris, picked up right where she left off last season and has earned the conference's first two Summit League Kwik Star Defensive Peak Performer of the Week honors.
• She tallied 56 digs at the Top Dogs Challenge with a 5.09 digs per set average and served up five more aces.
• Farris totaled 56 digs across the three matches with a 4.67 digs average in the opening weekend at Montana State.
• Farris tallied 25 digs against Montana State and notched her second career double-double with 13 assists. She also served up a career-high six aces in the win.
• After two weekends of matches, Farris ranks No. 21 in the NCAA in digs per set (4.87) and No. 25 in digs (112).

Summit League Sweep

• The Coyotes swept this week's peak performer of the week honors, as Lauren Medeck was named the offensive peak performer of the week alongside Kamryn Farris' defensive honor.
• Medeck led the Yotes in kills with 51 and a 4.64 kills per set average on a .314 hitting percentage.
• Medeck had a double-double in all three matches last weekend, pushing her current streak to five, and totaled 38 digs. 

The Closer

• Lauren Medeck served as "the closer" in the final set of matches at the Top Dogs Challenge this weekend.
• In the final set against UCONN, Medeck put away seven kills, had five digs and swung at a .538 clip.
• Medeck helped the Yotes close out a 3-1 win over Colgate with eight kills and a .467% in the fourth set.
• In the final frame of a sweep of Ball State, she put away eight kills, had a solo block and hit .500%. 

Aces Wild

• Kamryn Farris enters the weekend as the Summit League leader in total aces with 13 and ranks No. 35 in the NCAA.
• She served up a new career high six aces in the match against Montana State and ended the weekend with eight total.
• Her six aces against the Bobcats is tied for the second most by a coyote in a five-set match and is tied for fourth in a match across all sets.
• Farris' previous career high was three, a mark she had hit eight times most recently against Kansas City on November 24, 2024.
• As a team, the Yotes are No. 2 in the conference with 36 aces.
• Sierra Pokharel (6), Lauren Medeck (5) and Sam Untiedt (5) all have five or more aces on the season.

The Minis

• The Coyote backline has been among the NCAA's best through two weekends of play.
• The Yotes rank No. 21 in the nation in digs per set at 16.26 and No. 37 in total digs with 374. USD leads the Summit League in both categories.
• The Yotes have three players in the top-5 in the Summit League rankings in total digs. Kamryn Farris leads the conference (112), while Lauren Medeck is No. 4 (69) and Avery Van Hook is No. 5 (68).
• Freshman Sierra Pokharel, who has started in five of six matches to start the year, ranks No. 14 with 45. Sam Untiedt is No. 23 with 32 digs. 

Home Sweet Home

• The Coyotes have excelled on their home court under Williamson with a 96-24 record.
• Prior to the 2016 season, the Yotes played in 'The Coyote Den' in the DakotaDome.
• Beginning in 2016, South Dakota has called the Sanford Coyote Sports Center home and have accumulated a 75-16 overall record and 51-12 mark in Summit League Matches.
• A new addition to the SCSC in 2024 was the addition of the Teraflex floor in the SCSC. The Yotes became the third Summit League school to utilize a Teraflex floor.
• Since the 2019 season, the Coyotes have ranked inside or just outside the top-50 nationally for average home attendance.
• The Coyotes highest ranking for home attendance average was the 2021 season when they ranked No. 40 in the NCAA.
• *The Yotes ranked No. 14 in the NCAA during the adjusted 2020-21 season due to COVID.
• USD ranked 50th a season ago in home attendance and set a new SCSC program record with 2,810 fans taking in the match between South Dakota and South Dakota State on Nov. 19, 2024.

Killin' it Efficiently

• Amanda Loschen has been on a tear to start the 2025 campaign as she holds a team high hitting percentage of .354. (minimum 10 attempts per match).
• Loschen has two double-digit kill matches this season and has swung at a .300 clip in five of six matches.
• She put away eight kills on 15 swings with just one error for a .467% in the sweep of Ball State and had two solo blocks.
• Loschen also recorded a .400+ attack percentage in the five-set win over Montana State with 11 kills on 24 swings.
• Over her last four matches, Lauren Medeck has totaled 65 kills with a .329 hitting percentage.
• In the Yotes two sweeps on the season, Medeck had 14 kills on a .387 clip against Prairie View A&M and 16 kills at a .353 rate vs Ball State.