VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota volleyball returns to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center this week for a pair of Summit League matchups with Oral Roberts Thursday night and Kansas City Saturday.
How to Follow

• Live streams of both matches this week will be available on Summit League Network on Midco Sports Plus. 
• The links for live stats are available on the volleyball schedule page on goyotes.com

Quick Hitters

• USD went 4-0 in the regular season vs the Roos and Golden Eagles in 2025 and hold win streaks of five against KC and nine vs ORU.
• The Coyotes bounced back a conference opening loss to SDSU with a pair of sweeps last week at St. Thomas and Omaha to improve to 9-5 on the season. 
• USD is 3-1 inside the SCSC to start this season. The Yotes went 11-3 at home in 2025 and have posted a winning record in the SCSC every year since opening.
• South Dakota ranked No. 1 in the NCAA last week (9/28-10/4) with a 22.50 digs per set average and is No. 6 in the NCAA on the season with a 17.27 average.
• As a team, the Coyotes had 28+ digs in three of the six sets last week, including a single-set season high in the second set at St. Thomas Thursday. 
• Sierra Pokharel (3.90) and Avery Van Hook (3.77) rank No. 2 and 3, respectively, in the Summit League for digs per set. 
• After First Team All-Summit League and AVCA Northwest All-Region Honorable Mention honors in her sophomore season, Lauren Medeck leads the Coyotes in her junior season with 170 kills and a 3.47 kills/set average.
• Pokharel's career high of 32 digs against Northern Iowa is tied for the 10th most in the NCAA in a five-set match and the Yotes' 97 digs vs UNI is tied for the 14th most digs in a five-set match.
• For the first time since 2023, the Coyotes have someone new as libero with the graduation of two-time Summit League Defensive Player of the Year Kamryn Farris. Sierra Pokharel has stepped into that role in her sophomore season and leads the Yotes with 161 digs (3.74/set). 
• There are plenty of familiar faces on the South Dakota squad again this year with zero players leaving through the transfer portal and with zero additions through the portal. The Yotes graduated just one senior (Kamryn Farris) from last year's roster.  
• South Dakota welcomed two freshmen to the team in Harrisburg, South Dakota, native Gabi Zachariasen and Chloe Kmiecik from Shawnee, Kansas. Zachariasen was a three-time South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year during her prep career.
• Leanne Williamson enters her 13th year leading the Coyotes and holds a 260-115 record. Williamson set Summit League records for overall career wins and conference wins in 2025.

Series History vs Oral Roberts

• The Coyotes are 22-5 all-time against Oral Roberts and 13-1 when the match is played in Vermillion.
• USD has won nine straight over the Golden Eagles. The Yotes swept ORU in Vermillion last year and won in five in Tulsa. 
• Amanda Loschen totaled 20 kills against ORU in 2025, hitting .463 to pace the Yotes. She averaged 2.50 kills per set and had 12 total blocks.
• Morgan Bode led the Yotes with 21 kills in the two match, while hitting .340 and had six blocks. 
• Across the two matches, USD hit .267, with four players posting a hitting percentage north of .300.
• Sierra Pokharel had five aces and USD had the edge with 18 aces to ORU's six. 

Series History vs Kansas City

• USD has won five straight over Kansas City and is 15-8 all-time vs KC. The Yotes won both matches in 2025 3-1. 
• Morgan Bode had a team-leading 25 kills vs the Roos and hit .333 with seven blocks. 
• The Yotes averaged 14.00 kills per set with 112 kills, compared to KC's 8.50 average and 68 total kills.
• Led by Samantha Untiedt's six and Sierra Pokharel's five, the Coyotes had 21 aces to KC's six. 
• Avery Van Hook totaled 80 assists, 10 kills, 26 digs, two aces and five blocks. 

Whole Lotta Digs

• The Coyotes ranked No. 1 in the NCAA last week (9/28-10/4) with a 22.50 digs per set average.
• Of the six sets played in a pair of Coyote sweeps, USD tallied 28+ digs in three of those sets. The 30 digs in set two vs St. Thomas was a single-set season high, and Sierra Pokharel's 12 in set one vs the Tommies was the most by a Coyote in a single set this season. 
• Four Coyotes averaged 3.0+ digs/set, led by Pokharel's 5.17 average. She was followed by Lauren Medeck (4.67), Samantha Untiedt (3.17) and Avery Van Hook (3.17). 
• The four Coyotes (mentioned above) all had double-digit digs in the win at St. Thomas.
• Omaha and St. Thomas hit a combined .125 against the Yotes defense, while the Coyote attack hit .215. 

Peak Performers of the Week

• Sierra Pokharel earned her second Summit League Defensive Peak Performer of the Week Tuesday, after helping lead the Coyotes to pair of Summit League sweeps over St. Thomas and Omaha. 
• She totaled 31 digs across six sets for a 5.17 digs/set average.
• Pokharel headlined a Coyote defense that ranked No. 1 in the NCAA that week with a 22.50 digs/set average.
• Pokharel earned the first Summit League Peak Performer of the Week for the Coyotes on Sept. 8 after helping the Coyotes to a 3-0 record at the South Dakota Classic.
• Pokharel tallied double-digit digs in all three matches, including a career high 32 in a five-set win over Northern Iowa, which was also her first career double-double with 11 assists. Pokharel had 10 digs alone in the fifth set against the Panthers. 
• Ella Rogers, who made her first three career starts, was named the Summit League Offensive Peak Performer of the Week on Sept. 15 following the Coyotes' weekend in Colorado and Wyoming (Sept. 10-Sept. 12)
• Rogers dished out 97 assists, had 10 kills, four blocks and four aces across 10 sets. She put together an all-around performance in the four-set win over Wyoming with 42 assists, 10 digs, four aces, three blocks and six kills on eight swings (no errors). 

Can You Dig it?

• After ending the 2025 season at No. 18 in the NCAA with a 16.68 digs per set average, the Coyote defense has been one of the bests in the country so far this season.
• USD ranks No. 6 in the NCAA in digs per set at 17.27 (as of Oct. 7), led by Sierra Pokharel's 3.90 average.
• Sierra Pokharel leads the Yotes with 191 digs and is followed by Lauren Medeck's 158 and Van Hook's 147.
• The Yotes tallied a season-high 97 digs in the win over UNI and had a single-set high of 26 in set two. 
• USD had 21 digs in the fifth set alone against the Panthers, led by Pokharel's 10 as she set a career high of 32 digs vs UNI.
• In total, the Yotes have tallied 20+ digs in 16 of 49 sets so far this season. 
• The week of the South Dakota Classic (Aug. 31 to Sept. 6), the Coyotes ranked No. 5 in the NCAA in digs/set (18.50) and No. 11 in total digs (222). 

You've Been Served

• In the Coyotes' seven wins, they have won the serve receive to the tune of 52 aces to 24 reception errors. 
• Gabi Zachariasen, who features a top spin serve, leads the Coyotes in her freshman season with 20 aces (.43/set). Zachariasen started the season with four straight matches with multiple aces and has one ace in each of the last four matches.
• The Coyotes have had three players serve up four aces in a match already this season in Zachariasen vs Milwaukee, Sierra Pokharel vs Drake and Ella Rogers vs Wyoming. 
• In the last two Coyote wins, South Dakota held a 14-3 advantage in serve receive. 
• In South Dakota's four losses, opposing teams hold a 27-22 advantage in service aces.

Pinpoint Delivery

• Avery Van Hook hasn't missed a beat since the 2025 season where she ended her junior season ranked No. 32 in total assists and No. 36 in assists per set in the NCAA.
• Van Hook is No. 27 in the NCAA in assists per set at 10.36. 
• Behind Van Hook's delivery, three Coyotes are averaging over 2.0 kills per set led by Lauren Medeck's 3.47 average and followed by Gabi Zachariasen (2.68) and Audrey Nelson (2.02).
• When out of system, Sierra Pokharel has chipped in with 58 assists. 
• Ella Rogers stepped up for the Yotes over the Sept. 10-12 weekend and made her first three career starts as the setter at USD. 
• Rogers dished out 97 assists (9.7/set) in those matches, and set career highs for assists (42), digs (10), aces (4), blocks (3) and had six kills on eight swings. 

Home Sweet Home

• The Coyotes have excelled on their home court under Williamson with a 110-28 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 an 89-20 overall record and 58-14 mark in Summit League Matches.
• USD totaled five sweeps in the SCSC a season ago.
• 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. 
• South Dakota's match vs South Dakota State on Sept. 25 ranked No. 3 in program history with an attendance of 2,664.
• 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. 

---