University of South Dakota Athletics

FARGO, N.D. – South Dakota volleyball extended its win streak to six matches Saturday morning in a 3-2, five-set thriller win over North Dakota State. 

Lauren Medeck and Gabi Zachariasen led the Yotes with 16 and 15 kills, respectively, while Morgan Bode and Amanda Loschen combined for 24 kills and a .367 hitting percentage. Medeck notched a double-double with a team-high 18 digs. 

Avery Van Hook tallied a double-double with 51 assists and 10 digs and moved to No. 4 in program history in career assists with 3,858 after today's match. 

Behind 18 assists from Van Hook, the Coyotes were all systems go in the first set with 21 kills and a .304 hitting percentage. Van Hook's connection with the middles was on point, as Bode had six kills on 10 swings and Loschen had four kills on five attacks. South Dakota went into the media timeout with the momentum and five straight points to take its largest lead at 15-9. The Bison chipped away and would tie the score at 23-23, before Bode's sixth kill put USD on set point and she teamed up with Medeck for a block to take set one for the Yotes. 

NDSU evened the match in set two behind a dominant middle stretch of the set with a 12-3 run to take a 22-11 lead before winning the set 25-15. The Bison hit .294, while holding USD to a -.065 hitting percentage, and had four blocks. 

Similar to set two, the Bison expanded their lead in the middle of the third, this time behind a 9-3 run to go up 18-11. After trading the next seven points, three straight points moved the Bison to set point and would eventually take the frame 25-17. Medeck and Zachariasen paced USD with four kills each, but the Bison hit .343 with three blocks and two aces to take a 2-1 match lead. 

With the score tied at 10-10 in the fourth set, it was the Coyotes who controlled the middle part of the set, outscoring NDSU 10-4 to be the first to 20 points following a Loschen kill. A Bode kill followed by a Medeck ace moved the Yotes closer to sending the match to a fifth set, and after an NDSU error, Zachariasen's 13th kill won set four for the Yotes 25-20. Bode and Zachariasen had seven of USD's nine kills in the set, and as a team USD had three aces, three blocks and 21 digs. 

Medeck and Loschen took over in set five for the Yotes, as Medeck put away five kills on nine swings, and Loschen had four on five attacks. USD hit .320 in the deciding set while limiting the Bison to a .190 clip. A 5-0 run gave USD an 8-5 edge, a lead it would hold leading up to set point, but NDSU answered late to tie it at 14-14. Following a Coyote timeout, Bode and Zachariasen closed out the sixth straight win with back-to-back kills to take the fifth 16-14 and the match 3-2. 

Sierra Pokharel was one of five Coyotes with double-digit digs in the match and eclipsed 500 career digs. Cora Hokenstad (13), Samantha Untiedt (11), Van Hook (10) and Medeck (18) also had double-digit digs.

The Coyotes improve to 13-5 on the season and 6-1 in the conference at the halfway point of the Summit League season.

South Dakota is back on the road next week for one match in the Interstate Series against South Dakota State in Brookings, South Dakota.

---