MOORHEAD, MINN. -- With 20 kills from Averey Yaksich, the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team (9-6, 4-3 NSIC) finished off their road weekend with a 3-1 win over the Minnesota State University Moorhead (1-14, 1-6 NSIC) in Moorhead, Minn. on Saturday afternoon.

The Cougars, who had 20 kills from Yaksich and 15 from Jordan Byers, took a 3-1 win by scores of 26-28, 25-17, 25-15 and 25-19, after putting on another dominating performance after their 3-1 win over Northern State on Friday. For the fourth time this year, Yaksich had 20 kills in a match and now has 762 in her career (6th all-time at USF). Yaksich is ranked fourth in DII in kills, now has 243 kills (4.29 kills per set) on the year and is hitting .279.

USF Head Coach Dan Mathews was pleased with his team's effort yet again, and looking forward to seeing his team continue to improve.

"It was no easy task getting this win tonight. MSU Moorhead plays hard and they have a couple players with really good arms," said Mathews, whose team returns home with a 4-3 record in the NSIC. "It took an intense defensive effort and an adaptive offensive strategy to get the job done. Fortunately, our players were able to adapt."

Mathews, who is in his first year coaching for USF, is happy with his team's progress so far and is excited to see where they can go from here. 

"We feel great about this 2-0 weekend. It puts us at 4-3 in the NSIC and we're excited to improve upon that," said Mathews, whose team will host U-Mary on Friday, Oct. 8 at 5 pm and Minot State at 2 pm on Saturday, Oct. 9. "We have a tremendous amount to work on, but we train really well and the players lack no motivation." 

In the first set, the Cougars had 14 kills on 34 attempts, for a .206 hitting percentage as they dropped a tough, 28-26 decision. In the second set, USF put down 13 kills on 31 attempts with just one error as the tied the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 win. Then, in the third set, the Cougars took control of the match with 15 kills on 35 attempts (.371 percent) in a 25-15 win and a 2-1 lead in sets. In the fourth and final set, USF had 14 kills on 29 attempts for .276 percent as they overcame an early deficit to take the 25-19 win and earn another match victory.

On offense, Yaksich was joined by Jordan Kuper, who set a career high with 15 kills on 22 attacks and hit .591. She also had five block assists and two solo blocks with another dominating performance in the middle. Senior opposite Kenzie Byers added eight kills on 18 attacks while hitting .278. Senior Krista Goerger had another double-double with 49 assists, 11 digs and added two service aces. On defense, TiaRose Nagami had 18 digs and Kuper had seven blocks. Overall, the Cougars hit .310 as a team with 56 kills on 129 attacks and 16 errors. Meanwhile, MSU hit just .142 against USF with 41 kills and 134 attacks with 22 errors. USF controlled every statistical category including points, 77-57; kills, 56-41; aces, 9-8; blocks, 12-8; assists, 56-37; and digs, 58-41.