Box Score BEMIDJI, MINN. -- With  16 kills from Averey Yaksich and 32 assists from Krista Goerger, the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team (7-3, 2-0 NSIC) opened the first weekend of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with consecutive sweeps including Bemidji State (0-10, 0-2 NSIC), 3-0 (25-16, 25-8, 25-9) on the road on Saturday afternoon (Sep. 18). 

Yaksich led the Cougars on offense, hitting .625 kill percentage with 17 kills on 24 attacks. Yaksich, who also had 9 digs, now has 671 kills in her career as she passed Kate Hart (648-, 2013-14). She is 37 kills away from sixth all-time (Michelle Ritland, 707, 2012-15). This weekend, she had 34 kills on 57 attacks with just four errors as she hit .526 and averaged 5.67 kills per set to raise her season average to 422.

Senior setter Krista Goerger also continues to set the all-time assist mark as she had 32 against BSU and now has 2,740 set assists in her career.

"Although Bemidji is a good team, we were able to drive the action of the match from pretty early on," said USF head coach Dan Mathews. "They got us into serve receive trouble initially, but then our passers became really efficient and that allowed our offense to function at a high level. I was especially pleased by our back row defensive effort today. We dug a lot of balls," said Mathews, whose team heads to Wayne, Neb. to take on the #17 Wayne State Wildcats on Tuesday, Sep. 21. 

"Next week will be a lot of fun for us. We play Wayne State, UM-Duluth and St. Cloud State. All three of those teams are excellent and ranked. I'm excited to see how well we can assert ourselves in these tough matches," said Mathews. 

Freshman middle blocker Jordan Kuper led the Cougars in hitting percentage, totaling .846 percent with 11 kills on 13 attacks. Nicole Jacobson had nine kills on 19 attacks, adding 13.5 points for the Cougar's win. 

As a team, USF hit .545, with 44 kills on 77 attacks and two errors. USF had 45 digs, with a team-high tie of nine from Yaksich and nine from senior libero TiaRose Nagami. 

USF started off strong, going on a 4-0 to start the first set of the match. From there, the Cougars continued to dominate, never letting BSU get within five points, until they ended the first set, 25-16. As a team, USF totaled 16 kills and three aces. 

The second set followed a similar trend, with the Cougars taking a quick 5-0 lead over the Beavers. Midway through the set, Jordyn Hamm and Jacobson had back-to-back kills to take an 11-5 and it was smooth sailing from there. The Cougars took the second set, 25-8, and as a team, USF had 10 kills and two aces. 

In the final set, the Cougars came out swinging, going on a 10-1 to start the set. From there, USF continued to dominate, with kills from Yaksich, Brooklyn Albrecht, and Jacobson. As a team, USF had 18 kills and three aces to take a 25-9 win over BSU.