Coyotes complete road trip with sweep of Oral Roberts

TULSA, Okla. (USD) — The South Dakota volleyball team closed out its first Summit League road trip of the year with a sweep of Oral Roberts Saturday. The Coyotes won both matches this week in straight sets and have now won seven straight sets dating back to the September 21 match against Saint Louis. The Coyotes have now won seven straight regular season Summit League matches and four straight conference road contests, dating back to last season. "This was a great road win sweep!" said head coach Leanne Williamson . "We have been on the road a lot at the beginning of the year, which can be very difficult. However, I felt the team handled it extremely well. We won the serve and pass battle at a high rate which made the game feel easier at times. I thought Avery did a good job getting the right people involved offensively which gave us space to score at a high rate. We are heading home 2-0 and I feel really confident that we are heading in the right direction!" Cheyenne Hlady paced the Yotes with nine kills on the day and recorded her third straight match with a hitting percentage above .300. Hlady also took part in two blocks and tallied one dig. Kylen Sealock put eight kills on a .278 attack rate and had one solo block. Avery Van Hook notched her sixth double-double of the season with 30 assists and 10 digs. The Coyote setter continues to be an attacking threat, as she put away six kills on nine swings (.667). Kamryn Farris led the Yotes with 15 digs and had two aces. South Dakota tallied a season-high 11 aces on the day, the first time they've hit double-digit aces in a match this year. Morgan Bode tallied a match-high three aces, a mark she's now hit twice. Van Hook, Farris and Caity Clancy all tallied two aces each. The Coyotes took the first set 25-17 behind 17 kills and a .237 attack rate. USD's attack would catch fire in the next two sets, as they committed just five attack hours across the final two sets as they hit .458 in the second and .324 in the third. Bode started a five-point run for the Yotes early in the first set, and on Clancy's first serve of the match, she recorded an ace. Clancy also closed out the five-point swing with an ace, giving the Coyotes a 7-4 lead. Alaina Wolff capped off a 6-1 USD run with an ace, and the Coyotes took command of the set, 18-9. The Golden Eagles traded points near the end of the frame, but it was Hlady who closed out the 25-17 set win with her fourth kill. It was all South Dakota in the second set, as they put away 12 kills on a .458 hitting percentage, while holding ORU to three kills at a -.083 clip. USD ended the set with eight unanswered points, capped by back-to-back aces from Farris as the Yotes took set two 25-8. Four Yotes tallied multiple kills and Bode and Farris tallied a pair of aces each. The Coyote attack continued their impressive afternoon in the third set, putting down 15 kills at a .324 attack rate. Sealock paced USD with four kills on eight swings with no errors in the frame. Van Hook and Barrett Power recorded South Dakota's 10th and 11th aces of the match in the third. USD scored the first three points of the set and would hold the lead for the entirety of the third. USD closed the match with a 6-2 run, ending with a Samantha Laird kill, as they improve to 10-3 on the season. The Coyotes return to the Sanford Coyote Sports Center for a pair of matches against Saint Thomas on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and Omaha on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.