VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota volleyball kicks off the Summit League slate this week against North Dakota and Oral Roberts. The Coyotes travel to Grand Forks, North Dakota to face the Fighting Hawks Thursday night at 7 p.m. and return to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center to host Oral Roberts Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
 
Where To Watch

• Both matches this week will be streamed on the Summit League Network on Midco Sports Plus.
• Daniel Ver Steeg will be on the call for Saturday's match against Oral Roberts.

Key Storylines

• South Dakota begins Summit League play this week at North Dakota on Thursday to face the Fighting Hawks. USD returns home to host Oral Roberts Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. first serve.
• The Coyotes hold an 8-4 record following the nonconference slate where they matched up with two Power 4 opponents and five teams that appeared in the 2024 NCAA National Tournament (Oregon, Kansas, Colgate, FGCU and Wichita State)
• USD's P4 matchups featured two teams in the AVCA top-25 or receiving votes in current #18 Kansas and RV Oregon.
• The Yotes knocked off then undefeated Villanova to open last week's South Dakota Classic with a 3-1 victory. Morgan Bode had a career-high 16 kills with three solo blocks and hit at a .448 clip in the win.
• The reigning Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, Kamryn Farris, has picked up right where she left off from a season ago. The Coyotes lone senior leads the Summit League in total digs (231) and digs per set (5.13). She ranks 11th in the NCAA in digs per set and No. 14 in total digs.
• Farris was named the Summit League Kwik Star Defensive Peak Performer of the Week in each of the first three weeks.
• Over the last three weekends, Farris has averaged over 5.0 digs per set in each three-match weekend.
• 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 (80) and total points (199.5). In the NCAA, she ranks No. 28 in kills and No. 34 in points. She also ranks No. 9 in the conference in digs (128).
• The floor general, Avery Van Hook, paces the conference with 475 total assists, over 100 more than the next highest. She also leads the league with a 10.56 assists per set average. Van Hook is No. 6 in the NCAA in assists and No. 12 in assists per set.
• Van Hook also ranks No. 2 in the conference in digs with 152 and No. 7 in digs per set (3.38).
• When out of system, the Yotes have turned to Farris who has tallied 67 assists on the season. She has a pair of double-doubles already on the season (digs and 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 is in year 12 as the head coach at USD and holds a program best 237-104 record.

Peak Performers of the Week

• Through the first four weeks of the season, the Coyotes have won five of the first eight Summit League Kwik Star Peak Performer of the Week honors.
• Kamryn Farris won three straight defensive awards to start the season, while Lauren Medeck made it a Coyote sweep with Farris on Sept. 9.
• Avery Van Hook picked up her second career weekly honor this Tuesday after averaging 11.27 assists per set, 3.73 digs per set and had 13 kills at the South Dakota Classic.

The Minis

• The Coyote backline has been amongst the NCAA's best through three weekends of play.
• The Yotes rank No. 3 in the nation in digs per set at 17.84 and No. 12 in total digs with 803. USD leads the Summit League in both categories.
• The Yotes have three players in the top-10 in the Summit League rankings in total digs. Kamryn Farris leads the conference (231), while Avery Van Hook is No. 2 (152) and Lauren Medeck is No. 9 (128).
• Freshman Sierra Pokharel is just outside the top-10 with 111 digs (No. 11).

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.
• At the Coyote Invitational, Farris had 58 digs across three matches 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.

Reverse Sweep!

• South Dakota earned its second five-set win of the season against FGCU and have now 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.

Aces Wild

• Kamryn Farris enters the weekend No. 5 in the Summit League with 17 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.
• Sam Untiedt set a new career high with five aces against Villanova this past weekend.
• Her five aces are tied for fourth most in a four-set match in program history and tied for 12th across all sets.

Home Sweet Home

• The Coyotes have excelled on their home court under Williamson with a 100-26 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 .337. (minimum 10 attempts per match).
• Loschen has four double-digit kill matches this season and has swung at a .300 clip in nine of 12 matches. She has four matches at a .400+ clip.
• 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.

Winning Traditions

• Over the past seven seasons, the Coyotes have seen their fair share of success with either a Summit League Regular Season or Tournament Championship in each of those seven seasons.
• In 2022, South Dakota was crowned the regular season champions after posting a 16-2 league record and also claimed the tournament championship. It was the first time in program history, the Yotes claimed both titles in the same season.
• From 2020-22 the Coyotes won three straight conference tournaments and have five postseason titles in the last seven seasons.
• USD became the first Summit League team to win the postseason title as the No. 3 seed or higher, winning three games in three days.
• The Coyotes have made five appearances at the NCAA D1 National Tournament, most recently in 2024 when the Yotes faced No. 2 seeded Creighton in Omaha, Nebraska.