SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- After a tough-back and-forth battle, the University of Sioux Falls Volleyball Team (7-5, 2-2 NSIC) team dropped a tight five-set match to the No. 19 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (9-3, 2-2 NSIC), 3-2 (16-25, 28-26, 12-25, 25-23, 15-13) in the Stewart Center on Friday night. 

In its second-straight match against a nationally-ranked team, the Cougars battled all night and very nearly won the match, but fell just short in the fifth and final set. 

Despite the loss, Head Coach Dan Mathews is proud of his team's effort.

"I'm really proud of the way our team battled. We got some really big leads and that was great to see, because when the leads came we kept our foot on the gas," said Mathews, whose team faces yet another nationally ranked opponent tomorrow (No. 20 St. Cloud State @ 2 pm @ Stewart Center). "Some of the sets were really close and it was great to see our effort level never wavered during those. It's disappointing to feel like we were in a position to clinch a win against a really, really good team, but Duluth is ranked 19th for a reason. All-in-all though, I'm really happy with our team's effort tonight."

As a team, the Cougars totaled 66 kills on 176 attempts for a .273 hitting percentage. Still on the offensive side, USF tallied 62 assists and eight service aces. On defense, the Cougars allowed 61 kills for UMD but had 31 total blocks on the night. USF also had just three reception errors compared to the Bulldogs' eight errors. 

Individually, USF was led on offense by senior outside hitter Averey Yaksich, who racked up 24 kills and 28 points for the Coo. Yaksich, who has 24 or more kills for a second time this year, has moved past 700 career kills (703) and sits just four away from sixth place all-time (Michelle Ritland, 2012-15, 707). Freshman middle hitter Jordan Kuper had career-bests with 14 kills and a .440 hitting percentage. Senior setter Krista Goerger led the way in assists, tallying a team-high 54 assists on the match. Goerger, who was just off her career-game best of 57 assists (Minot State, 11/15/2019), also had a team-high three service aces. On defense, the Cougars were led by senior libero TiaRose Nagami who totaled a career-best 26 digs and Kuper, who had eight block assists and two block solos. 

With a .480 team hitting mark and six kills by Yaksich, the Cougars, who opened the match with a 25-16 first set win over UMD. The Cougars racked up 13 kills, two aces, and five blocks as a team. USF took a 13-11 lead after Yaksich had three kills for the Cougars. Later, Yaksich had a pair of blocks to help the Cougars to an 18-12 lead. Yaksich had four kills at this point in the set. Yet another Yaksich kill gave USF a 21-13 lead. Then, the Cougars on a pair of kills by Brooklynne Albrecht, who had six on the night and hit .250, and two attack mistakes by UMD.

The second set was a closer decision, with the Bulldogs and Cougars trading points until UMD took a 28-26 decision to even the score, 1-1. USF had 15 kills on 56 attempts (.143) while UMD had 16 kills on 52 attacks (.154). After USF took a 5-3 lead, UMD rallied with an 8-3 run to take an 11-8 lead. But the Cougars responded with three straight points to tie the match after a Goerger kill. Later, USF built a 19-16 lead.  After a timeout, UMD scored three straight to tie the set. USF rallied down 24-22 to tie it but UMD took a 28-26 set win. 

The Cougars cruised to another easy victory in the third set, shutting down the Bulldogs with a 25-12 win to take a 3-1 set lead. USF had 10 kills and just one attack error, as well as four service aces as opposed to UMD's one ace. After the two teams battled to an 8-8 tie, the Cougars scored six straight points for a 14-8 advantage. After that, UMD didn't have an answer for USF which utilized the play of Kuper with four kills and three blocks to dominate the set.

The Bulldogs fought back to take a close win in the fourth set, 25-23, taking advantage of the Cougars' five attack errors and three service errors. USF totaled 16 kills on 41 attacks for .268 percent. In the set, both teams led at times with the Cougars taking a 16-15 advantage on a kill by Yaksich.  Tied at 19, UMD won two straight points before USF battled back into a 23-23 tie. Then, UMD closed on a kill by Grace Daak and an attack error by USF to tie the match at 2-2.

The fifth and final set was fought down to the wire, with the Bulldogs ending the night with a 15-13 win and taking home a 3-2 over the Cougars. UMD had nine kills while USF had 12, but the Cougars had four attack errors while the Bulldogs, who wee led by Kate Berg and Cianna Selbitschka with 17 kills each, had just one and USF tallied two service errors and UMD, none. USF had a 10-6 lead and then led, 13-12, but UMD continued to battle back and finished with three straight points to win the match.