VERMILLION, S.D. — For the second weekend in a row, the South Dakota volleyball team will play three matches in three days in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
South Dakota Classic Schedule
Thursday, September 18
4:00 p.m. • Drake vs. Wichita State
7:00 p.m. • South Dakota vs Villanova • Bingo Night
Friday, September 19
4:00 p.m. • Drake vs. Villanova
7:00 p.m. • South Dakota vs Wichita State
Saturday, September 20
11:00 a.m. • Wichita State vs. Villanova
5:00 p.m. • South Dakota vs Drake • Wear Black
 
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 all of the Coyotes matches this weekend against Villanova, Wichita State and Drake.

 
Key Storylines

• The Coyotes close out the preseason schedule this weekend with the South Dakota Classic.
• USD will take on the undefeated Villanova Wildcats on the first day of the Classic and also welcomes Wichita State and Drake to the SCSC.
• The Yotes are 6-3 on the season after going 2-1 in each of the first three weekends of play.
• 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 fell in straight sets to #17 Kansas Saturday night in the SCSC.
• Friday's matchup against Wichita State will be the fifth nonconference match against a 2024 NCAA Tournament Team. (Oregon, Kansas, Colgate and FGCU were the other four)
• 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 (170) and digs per set (5.00). She ranks 16th in the NCAA in digs and 14th in digs per set.
• Farris earned her third straight Summit League Kwik Star Defensive Peak Performer of the Week honor Tuesday and now has six for 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 (137) and total points (154). In the NCAA, she ranks No. 24 in kills and No. 34 in points. She also ranks No. 3 in the conference in digs (111).
• The floor general, Avery Van Hook, paces the conference with 351 total assists and a 10.32 assists per set average. Van Hook is No. 8 in the NCAA in assists and No. 22 in assists per set.
• 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 is in year 12 as the head coach at USD and holds a program best 237-104 record.

Three Straight PPOTW

• The reigning Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, Kamryn Farris, has locked down the back for the Coyotes to start the season and earned her third straight Summit League Kwik Star Defensive Peak Performer of the Week honor.
• Farris became the first player since 2019 to win the defensive weekly award three straight weeks.
• The last player to accomplish this feat was USD's Anne Rasmussen who did it in 2019 and 2017.
• Rasmussen set the Summit League single-season record with seven defensive weekly honors in the 2019 season.
• Last weekend, Farris had 58 digs across three matches at the Coyote Invitational for a 5.27 digs per set average. She matched her season-high for the third time with 25 digs in a reverse sweep of FGCU.
• She tallied 56 digs at the Top Dogs Challenge with a 5.09 digs per set average and served up five aces.
• Farris totaled 56 digs across the three matches with a 4.67 digs average in the opening weekend at Montana State.
• Through three weeks of action, Farris ranks No. 16 in the NCAA in digs (170) and No. 14 in digs per set (5.00). She leads the Summit League in both categories.

Reverse Sweep!

• South Dakota earned its second five-set win of the season Friday against FGCU and won three straight five setters.
• Lauren Medeck set a new career-high with 24 kills against the Eagles and notched a double-double with 13 digs.
• Kamryn Farris matched her season-high for the third time with 25 digs, while Avery Van Hook set a career-best with 22 digs.
• Facing an 0-2 deficit, the Yotes took the third set behind a .353 hitting percentage. Medeck and Samantha Laird combined for nine kills in the set.
• The Yotes offense stayed in rhythm in the third set hitting .282 while holding FGCU to a .184 clip, and closed out the fifth with a .320 attack percentage to FGCU's .115
• Over the final three sets, Medeck put away 14 kills on 37 swings, while Laird had eight on 20 swings and Amanda Loschen had eight on 16.

Summit League Sweep

• The Coyotes swept last 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.

Aces Wild

• Kamryn Farris enters the weekend No. 4 in the Summit League with 15 aces.
• 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 have 45 aces on the season.
• Lauren Medeck (8), Sam Untiedt (8), Sierra Pokharel (6) and Avery Van Hook (5) all have five or more aces on the season.

The Minis

• The Coyote backline has been amongst the NCAA's best through three weekends of play.
• The Yotes rank No. 10 in the nation in digs per set at 17.00 and No. 21 in total digs with 578. USD leads the Summit League in both categories.
• The Yotes have three players in the top-6 in the Summit League rankings in total digs. Kamryn Farris leads the conference (170), while Avery Van Hook is No. 4 (111) and Lauren Medeck is No. 6 (102).
• Freshman Sierra Pokharel, who has started in six of nine matches to start the year, ranks No. 15 with 73.

Home Sweet Home

• The Coyotes have excelled on their home court under Williamson with a 98-25 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 77-17 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 .363. (minimum 10 attempts per match).
• Loschen has three double-digit kill matches this season and has swung at a .300 clip in eight of nine matches.
• In the Yotes reverse sweep of FGCU, Loschen put away 13 kills at a .414 clip with five blocks.
• 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.
• In the Yotes sweeps of Prairie View A&M and Ball State, Medeck had 14 kills on a .387 clip against Prairie View A&M and 16 kills at a .353 rate vs Ball State.