BROOKINGS The South Dakota State volleyball team ran its win streak up to 10 matches over the weekend.
The Jackrabbits swept Oral Roberts on Thursday and then beat Denver in four sets on Saturday. SDSU is now 16-3 overall and 10-0 in the Summit League. The Jacks will play at Omaha this upcoming Thursday at 7 p.m. and then will host South Dakota on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Thursday
SDSU 3, Oral Roberts 0
The South Dakota State volleyball team swept Oral Roberts 25-18, 25-15, 25-22 Thursday night at First Bank & Trust Arena.
The Jackrabbits stretch their unbeaten Summit League streak to nine consecutive matches and are 15-3 overall this season. The Golden Eagles are still winless in the Summit League at 0-9 and are 2-19 on the year.
SDSU out-aced ORU 9-2 in the match and had a 7-3 edge in blocks. The Eagles had a 35-34 edge in kills, but the Jackrabbits committed just nine attacks errors compared to 22 by the Eagles. SDSU hit .275 as a team while ORU hit .125.
Sylvie Zgonc paced the Jackrabbits with 11 kills and 11 digs, both team highs, for her 10th double-double of the season. She hit .385 for the contest. Sydni Schetnan hit .545 with six kills on 11 errorless swings and led the Jackrabbits with five block assists. Annalee Ventling-Brown also contributed six kills with one error on 10 attacks for a .500 clip.
Brooke Larsen made her first collegiate start and gave out 26 assists to go with five digs, two kills and a block assist.
Ventling-Brown and Zgonc, along with Hannah Klein and Madison Burr, tallied two block assists apiece.
Joslyn Richardson and Rachel Wieber had eight and seven digs, respectively. Burr and Wieber put down three ace serves each.
Oral Roberts was led by Cortnee Smith, who tallied 14 kills. LIbero Julia Carr notched 15 digs.
Zgonc has tallied double-digit kills in all but one match this season.
Saturday
SDSU 3, Denver 1
The Jackrabbits won the first two sets, then dropped the third and faced set point in the fourth before roaring back to take the match with a 4-0 finishing run. SDSU moves to 16-3 on the season and 10-0 in Summit League action. Denver is now 13-8 overall and 5-5 in conference matches.
Sylvie Zgonc had a season-high 23 kills and contributed nine digs and four blocks (two solo, two assists) for the Jackrabbits. Madison Burr set a new career best with 15 kills while hitting .370 and led the Jackrabbits with six block assists. Sydni Schetnan was also in double figures, tallying 10 kills at a .375 clip with just one error.
Five Jackrabbits notched at least two blocks as SDSU recorded 14 as a team. After Burr, Schetnan had five blocks (three assists, two solo) and Annalee-Ventling-Brown had four block assists. Hannah Klein also had two blocks, both assisted.
Defensively, four Jackrabbits tallied double-digit digs. Joslyn Richardson led the way with 16 digs, then Rylee Martin had 15, Maggie Meister had 14 and Rachel Wieber had 12 digs. Wieber put down four of SDSU’s five ace serves in the match.
Martin notched 44 assists and had the match-winning solo block.
The Jackrabbits had the edge over the Pioneers in kills (58-56) and blocks (14-8). Both teams had five aces.
Denver’s Ava Reynolds led the Pios with 14 kills, followed by Genevieve Lewis with 13. Libero Madison Winkler led all players with 18 digs.
Set one: An 11-3 stretch early for the Jackrabbits had the home team ahead 11-5 in the opening set. Seven of those points for SDSU came off unforced Denver serve and attack errors. Denver started to close the gap with three straight points to make it 15-12, then the Jacks rattled off five straight to go up eight at 20-12. Wieber put down her first ace of the match during the run and Burr and Zgonc each had a kill. SDSU won the first set 25-15.
Set two: Burr and Zgonc combined to push the Jackrabbits out to a 6-2 lead in set two. Burr had two kills and Zgonc had one, and the duo teamed up on a block for the four points the Jackrabbits earned in the opening stretch. The Pioneers put together a 5-0 run to take the lead at 11-9. A 7-0 run with Wieber on the service line gave SDSU the lead again at 18-13. Wieber had two aces in the stretch and Burr and Zgonc accounted for two kills apiece. The Pioneers tied the set against at 21 following four straight points late in the set. The Jackrabbits scored four of the final six points to go up 2-0 in the match.
Set three: Set three featured nine ties and four lead changes. Neither team led by more than three until a 4-1 stretch for the Jacks put them up 12-9. Schetnan capped that run with a solo block. SDSU maintained its lead until Denver scored four straight to go up one at 20-19. SDSU was able to tie the set against at 20 and 21, but Denver extended the match by scoring the final four points of the set.
Set four: Denver scored five straight to take a 16-12 lead in the fourth set and held onto that lead until a late Jackrabbit surge. With the Pioneers ahead 21-17, SDSU scored three straight with consecutive Zgonc kills to come back within one. Denver went ahead by two points three more times in the set and had set point at 24-22. After a Denver attack error to bring the Jackrabbits again back within one, 24-23, Klein recorded a kill from Martin for the 24-all tie. Denver used a timeout, then Zgonc recorded a kill out of the back row and Martin ended the match with a solo block on the right pin.
SDSU had a season-high 75 digs in the match.
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