2023-11-20 02:10:49
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VERMILLION, S.D. – No. 5 seed North Dakota State rallied to knock out No. 4 seed and tournament host South Dakota in five sets to advance to the semifinals of the 2023 #SummitVB Championship at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. The Bison won the opening set but the Coyotes appeared to take control of the match by taking the second and third sets.
North Dakota State advances in a thrilling 5-set win over South Dakota! Head Coach Jennifer Lopez joined Kienan Dixon to talk regarding the win.#ReachTheSummit pic.twitter.com/WZxk3f7prc
— The Summit League (@TheSummitLeague) November 20, 2023
NDSU found a way to force a decisive fifth set by claiming a 25-23 victory in set No. 4 then dominated the last stanza 15-7. The Bison hit .500 in the final stretch and got three pivotal kills from Alexis Boling down the stretch and got the closing point from Ali Hinze as those two combined for 30 kills in the victory.
NDSU controlled the first set early on, racing out to a 5-1 lead and owning a 15-9 advantage before the Coyotes settled in. South Dakota would come all the way back, squaring things at 19-19 but the Coyotes might never take the lead as they dropped the opener 29-27. Boling had five kills on her first five swings of the match to finish with 13.
South Dakota dominated play in the second set, hitting .346 while holding the Bison to a negative clip at -.115. Evelyn Diederich, who finished with a career-high 14 kills for the Coyotes, had back-to-back kills to push their advantage to 12-6 in a set USD would lead by as many as 12 at 21-9 before finishing it off 25-15.
The Coyotes cruised through the third set as well, closing it out 25-17 following hitting .303 and holding the Bison to .000 attack percentage. NDSU had only four attack errors in the opening set but combined for 17 over the next two as South Dakota took the lead at 2-1.
The fourth set was a back-and-forth affair with NDSU eventually forcing a fifth set when it prevailed 25-23 on an attack error by Diederich. The teams were tied at 13-13 and exchanged points until Lauren Jansen put the Bison ahead 23-21 on a kill.
Who Stood Out
Setter of the Year Kelley Johnson had 49 assists, 17 digs and four kills for the Bison. Hinze, a All-Summit League first team performer, led NDSU with 17 kills and added 13 digs to post her 18th double-double of the season. Boling (13) and Jansen (10) joined Hinze in double-figure kills. Kylen Sealock led all players with 18 kills as four Coyotes reached double figures in kills. Diederich added 14 while Summit Player of the Year Madison Harms had 13 and Brynn Paumen posted 10. Sealock added 11 digs to post her 10th double-double of the season.
Turning Point
Freshman Lauren Jansen closed out the fourth set with her 10th kill of the match to force a fifth set that the Bison closed on a 9-2 to run to take 15-7.
Notable
South Dakota had won three consecutive Summit League Tournaments with their last loss coming in the 2019 semifinals once morest Denver.
NDSU advanced to the semifinals for the second consecutive season.
NDSU hit .444 in the opening set with only four attack errors but combined for 17 attack errors in sets two and three.
Harms broke the all-time Summit League record for career blocks with her fourth of the match. She finished with five to leave her career total at 664 to move past Buffalo’s Kathy Brinkworth, who had 662 for the Bulls (1994-97).
USD senior Evelyn Diederich registered a career-high 14 kills in the contest.
Up Next
The Bison will meet top-seeded Kansas City at 7 p.m. CT in Monday’s second semifinal.
#SummitVB
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