BROOKINGS It looked like South Dakota States unbeaten streak was going to come to an end on Tuesday night, but the Jackrabbits came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat South Dakota in five sets and improve to 19-0.
That was unbelievable, said SDSU head coach Dan Georgalas. The perseverance and resiliency from our group was, I mean, its surreal right now. Theres so much to process. The comeback in the fourth set and then the fifth set. The swings of momentum in the entire match. I just couldnt be more proud of our group for never giving up and never stopping to believe that we could do it.
SDSU trailed 23-20 in the fourth set and then 24-22. The Jacks then scored two points to tie things up and Sylvie Zgonc completed the fourth set comeback with back-to-back kills and forced a fifth set.
Zgonc said her team didnt want to disappoint the 2,224 fans that were in the building on Tuesday night.
We were saying [in the huddle] that this was our house and we needed to do it for the people here and do it for each other. Nobody comes in here and messes with us, especially USD. That really fueled our fire, I think, Zgonc said.
The Jacks would carry that momentum into the fifth set as they jumped out to an 8-3 lead. The Yotes would cut the lead to 12-8, but SDSU then scored three straight points to win the match.
It was the first time since 2015 that the Jackrabbits beat the Coyotes. USD had won 19 straight against the Jackrabbits and Georgalas said his team was aware of the streak, but they didnt want to make a big deal about it before the match.
I feel like weve been so close so many times. We had three match points in the fifth set in 2021, we lost in five in 2022 and then last year we got reverse swept twice. I think going into this match was the first time we were favored and that was something we had never been in position of. We didnt address it at all. I couldnt be happier for Annalee Ventling-Brown because she is going to graduate from this place and have a win over USD. That means the world to me, Georgalas said.
The two teams traded points in the first set as it was 8-8. The Jacks then scored three straight and kept the three-point lead until scoring four in-a-row to go up 22-15. They eventually won the set 25-18.
USD was able to edge out the Jacks in the second set. It was 12-11 and the Coyotes went on a 5-2 run to go up 17-13. They then led 21-18 but SDSU would cut the lead to 22-21. However, USD scored the next three points and took the second set 25-21.
It looked like USD was going to run away with the third set. The Coyotes led 9-7 and then went on an 11-4 run to go up 20-11. The Jacks would respond though. They went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 20-17 and then made it 21-20 by scoring four of the next five points. USD then went up 24-21 and SDSU scored two straight points to cut the lead to one, but a Madison Burr service error gave the Coyotes the set victory.
Despite losing the set, Georgalas said he thought the way his team fought at the end of the third set changed the momentum in the match.
We started playing better and built that momentum and had some grit and some passion, and that carried into that [fourth and fifth] set. It was still a slow start but we had the confidence that we could still flip the switch, and thats whats been special about this team all year, Georgalas said.
Zgonc led the Jacks with 24 kills, 12 digs and four blocks. She credited the big numbers to her teammates.
I give it all to my teammates. Theyre always there supporting me and telling me to rip at the ball. They were there to cover me when I got blocked and the setting was on point and our defense was on point, she said.
Sydni Schetnan had eight kills and eight blocks. Burr had six kills and seven blocks. Ventling-Brown had eight kills and five blocks. As a team the Jacks had 18 blocks. Georgalas said it took some time for his team to block at the rate they usually do but they did it at the most important part of the match.
We got into the fourth set and the block started to come around. Im pretty sure 18 blocks ties a program record. I will remember this game for all the swings and all the momentum, Georgalas said.
Rylee Martin had 27 assists and Joslyn Richardson had 11 digs. Camryn Honn had 21 assists and Rachel Weiber had 12 digs. Katie Van Egdom had seven kills and Alyssa Groves had six kills.
USD was led by Lauren Medeck who had 29 kills and 12 digs. Kyle Sealock had 19 kills and seven digs.Avery Van Hook had 48 assists and Amanda Loschen had 12 kills. Kamryn Farris had 21 digs and Cora Hokenstad had 10 digs.
SDSUs 19-0 start is the second-best start to a season in program history. The Jacks will have a chance to tie the best start on Saturday when they take on Denver in Brookings at 1 p.m.
Georgalas said he and his staff have thought about the win streak, but theyre thinking about bigger things down the road.
I mentioned [the win streak] a couple weeks ago. I told the team that none of our goals were to go undefeated. Not a single person. We want to win a championship. I would gladly lose a game or two if it allowed us to accomplish that team goal at the end of the year, Georgalas said.
Leave a Reply