SIOUX FALLS – On Senior Night, the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team ended the year as the season began with a victory. The Cougars, which honored five seniors in a post-match ceremony, recorded its second consecutive sweep with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-9) victory over Minnesota Crookston at the Stewart Center.

Before families and friends, the Cougars had a dominating performance for the second straight match as they ended their fifth straight winning season with a 17-11 record which included 12-8 in the highly competitive NSIC. The Cougars finished ninth in the NSIC but just one win out of fifth. Due to a tightly congested group in the middle, USF fell just short of the NSIC Postseason Tourney. However, USF's 12-8 league mark is the third best in program DII history. Only the 14-6 mark in 2018 and the 13-7 record in 2016 was better. With a 3-0 sweep, USF had 10 this year.  

"It feels incredible to have our first season in the books. Our performance this year exceeded our expectations and set a high standard for future generations for future USF volleyball players," said USF Head Coach Dan Mathews. "With our 10th sweep of the year, we have shown we can be as competitive as anyone in this league. I am grateful for the effort put forth by members of this year team who competed in one of the elite NCAA DII conferences at a high level," he said. 

"It is bittersweet to say good bye to our seniors and it was incredible and an honor to work with the seniors for this past year," he said. Following the match, USF Volleyball recognized its five seniors including Kenzie Byers, TiaRose Nagami, Averey Yaksich, Krista Goerger and Marlee Schneider.

The Cougars, which recorded a 7-3 home mark and was 7-7 away with a 3-1 neutral floor mark, was led in the season finale against UMC by senior outside hitter Averey Yaksich with 14 kills on 33 attacks for a .303 hitting percentage and totaled nine digs and a team-high 15.5 points. She finished the season with a school record 442 kills for 4.46 kills per set, which set another season record (4.01 KaSandra Springer, 2019). With 503.5 points ad 5.09 points per set, she set two more school season records. Her 503.5 points was 37 more than Makenna Rockeman in 2016 and her 5.09 points/set was well above Springer's mark of 4.74 set in 2019. She was also second for a season with 1,082 attacks.

USF also had another historical note with senior Krista Goerger registering 35 assists which gives her 1,056 on the season, a total that is third all-time for a season at USF. She is the only player in school history with consecutive or two 1,000 assist season as her 1,057 in 2018 is second all-time. However, with 10.67 assists per set she broke her own record of 10.37 in 2019. She also had 10.36 in 2018 as she finishes with the three top marks for a year in school history and finished with a career total of 3,453 and another school mark.

Another stellar effort on Saturday was by sophomore Nicole Jacobson who had a double-double with 12 kills on 28 attacks for a .429 hitting mark along with 11 digs. Jordyn Hamm, a freshman middle blocker had seven kills and hit .417 while recording four block assists.

In terms of team totals, USF opened the match with a 25-19 win as they hit .333 with 12 kills on 30 attacks and just two errors.

In set two, USF hit .306 with 15 kills on 36 attacks and four errors.

Then in set three, USF was hitting .344 as a result of 16 kills on 32 attacks with five errors. For the match, USF scored 59 points with 42 digs and 42 kills off 98 attacks and just 11 errors for a .327 hitting mark.