VERMILLION With a sweep over South Dakota, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits made history in more ways than one on Tuesday night.
The win over the Coyotes, which came by scores of 25-16, 25-22 and 25-20, gave the Jackrabbits their first outright Summit League regular season championship since 2007 their first year as a Division I program. But it also snapped a streak of futility in Vermillion, giving SDSU its first win at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center since 2002.
In many ways, Tuesdays win was the perfect moment in a season that has been just about perfect for the Jackrabbits so far, and while it was a banner moment, its one they dont want to end.
We respect [USD] a lot and we just felt like it was our turn and that this season was something special for us, Georgalas said. We want to keep playing and we dont want it to end. We want to be in the NCAA Tournament and we want to make this a November to remember for our program.
The Jacks sweep began with a dominating offensive performance in the first set. The Jackrabbits posted a .406 kill percentage in the opening frame and used it to their advantage rattling off eight straight points after both teams opened in a 3-3 tie to take an 11-3 lead.
Sylvie Zgonc was the catalyst for the run with an ace at the service line but also featured the Jackrabbits balance with Sydni Schetnan getting a pair of kills and a pair of attack errors by USDs Lauren Medeck and Morgan Bode.
The Coyotes fought their way back to close SDSUs lead to 17-15 on an attack error by Schetnan later in the first set but the Jacks had a response closing the opening frame on an 8-2 run and finishing on a Madison Burr kill to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The second set had more back-and-forth action with SDSU and USD tied at 20-20. A kill by Schetnan gave the Jacks the lead and an attack error by Bode gave SDSU a 22-20 advantage but a service error by Zgonc and a Lauren Medeck kill sandwiched around a Van Egdom kill cut the lead down to 23-22.
The Jacks powered through at the end of the set, however, using kills by Van Egdom and Burr to win 25-22 and sit one set away from an outright conference crown.
With one of their goals within reach, SDSU stepped on the gas by scoring five of the first six points in the second frame. USD rallied with a 5-2 run to close the gap to 7-6 on a Medick kill but the Jacks once again pulled away beginning with a Burr kill to give USD a 9-7 lead.
This would be the closest USD would get for the rest of the night as the Jacks scored six straight points later in the set to take an 18-11 lead on a Van Egdom kill. An attack error by Kylen Sealock gave SDSU match point at 24-18 bet despite two points on attack errors by Zgonc and Burr, Zgonc put the finishing touches with a kill to seal a 25-20 victory and a Vermillion victory for the first time in the Division-I era.
It means so much. Weve wanted this a whole year, Jackrabbits outside hitter Sylvie Zgonc said. Going into it, we were like We want to be selfish. We want to win this outright. We dont want to share it with anyone. And I think theres no better place than to do it right here. I think we came through and did that very well.
Geogalas also understood the significance of the achievement, beating a strong USD team to capture the outright conference title.
South Dakota is such a good team and weve been talking about what a great defensive team for months, SDSU head coach Dan Georgalas said of the win. Credit to them. Theres no one we respect more in the league than this opponent. [USD coach Leanne Williamson] has done an amazing job here and the ability to sustain the success theyve had is really impressive and something we respect.
But while Georgalas heaped respect on the Coyotes, he also marveled about his teams efficiency on the offensive end, which included a .311 kill percentage.
For us to hit .311 at their place and win in three is something weve never accomplished before, Georgalas said. I think it just goes back to our group, just being really confident and us believing in something special this season meant something a little bit different for us.
Georgalas also praised Schetnan a former Louisville transfer who led the offensive charge with nine kills and a .471 kill percentage on the evening and a conference-leading .401 percentage on the season.
That type of kill percentage is just unreal. Shes been doing that all year, Georgalas said. …Sydni is a special player. Theres not too many athletes that look like her in the Summit League and were grateful she wanted to come back home and make a difference.
Zgonc had 14 kills to go with 14 digs while Burr had eight kills and Camryn Honn had a pair of aces from the service line and Rachel Wieber and Zgonc each had an ace.
With Rylee Martin racking up a team-high 21 assists and Honn adding 15 assists, SDSUs offense was a big storyline but the Jacks defense also played a key role, holding USD to a .169 attack percentage including a .140 percentage in the final set.
Schetnan has played a key role in the middle of the defense and had a pair of blocks on Tuesday but Burr also had a team-high three blocks, giving the Jacks a different dynamic at the net with a conference-leading 2.78 blocks per set this season.
People keep asking me what the difference is this year. I keep saying blocking, but to have a middle duo like Sydni and Maddie this year, thats something weve never had at South Dakota State yet and this is [my fifth season,] Georgalas said. I think thats really been the catalyst, the ability score at a high clip, to have a really high kill percentage from both middles and it opens up everything else at the net.
Joslyn Richardson had a team-high 15 digs while Honn had seven.
Sealock led USD in kills with 12 while Medeck had 10 and Amanda Loschen had eight. Alaina Wolff and Kamryn Farris each had a service ace. Van Hook had 29 assists while Farris had four assists and Sealock had one.
Loschen led the Coyotes in blocks with four while Bode and Cheyenne Hlady and Bode each had three. Farris had a team-high 14 digs while Van Hook had seven and Cora Hokenstad had six.
SDSU will be the No. 1 seed during the Summit League Conference Tournament and the Jacks will play their first game against the winner of Sundays game between No. 4 North Dakota State and No. 5 Denver at 4 p.m. on Monday in Kansas City.
While Georgalas admitted it would be easy to rest on the achievement of winning a regular season title by beating a talented Coyotes team in their building, he also stated that there are bigger goals in mind and perhaps another special moment for what has become a special group.
I think my first message to them is going to be that its easy because weve never been the [No. 1] seed beforeand you could go into that type of scenario thinking Oh, wow. We have an easier path to a championship or making it past the championship, Georgalas said. Im going to squash that right away the next time we meet. Nothing is easy in the conference tournament, but we are prepared for a great run. We like where were at on our side of the net, so well prepare like we always do. I think our group is just super tight and together and I think the people in the program have really made the difference this year.
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