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DENVER, Colo. – Audrey Reeg connected for 14 kills and came up with 11 digs as No. 2-seed University of South Dakota hit .312 overall to defeat North Dakota State University 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-19) in the second Summit League Volleyball semifinal played Saturday, Nov. 19, at the University of Denver's Hamilton Gymnasium. NDSU finishes the season with a 14-18 record.
 
South Dakota (24-6) squares with host and top-seed Denver (22-7) at 3 p.m. Central Sunday, Nov. 20, in the championship match. The Pioneers advanced with a 3-0 win over Oral Roberts in the first match.
 
Behind the play of Brittany Jessen, Elizabeth Loschen and Reeg, USD gradually pulled away from the Bison in the first set and rode the momentum on both offense and defense for the remainder of the match. The Coyotes disrupted the NDSU attack and allowed only a trio three-point runs by the Bison.
 
One of those runs came in the third set, as North Dakota State fell behind 8-5 and used a pair of kills from Emily Minnick to tie the score at 8-all. However, USD regained control and built a 14-11 lead on a pair of kills from Lindsey Brown.
 
Minnick led the Bison with nine kills and hit .444, but NDSU was limited to a .150 hitting percentage. Emily Miron finished with seven kills and five blocks. Mikaela Purnell came up with 12 digs, and Brianna Rasmusson had 16 assists, six digs and three blocks.
 
Jessen directed the balanced South Dakota offense with 42 assists and had 11 digs. Reeg led a group of four players with double-figure digs for USD. Loschen had 11 kills, while Rachel Schmidt and Brown each claimed 10. Reeg was joined in double-figure digs by Lauren Mattison with 13 and Jessen.
 
It was the final match for eight NDSU seniors – Monica Claxton, Hannah Jessen, Emily Milligan, Ali Moody, Morgan Morgan, Hadley Steffen, Minnick and Miron.