BROOKINGS – South Dakota State was unable to overcome a slow start on Thursday night as the Jackrabbits fell in their Summit League volleyball opener to Denver in four sets.

Denver jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a 25-18 victory in the first set and a 25-19 win in set two. SDSU fell behind 8-1 in the first set and the Pioneers rode that to the victory. The Jacks then fell behind 11-6 in the second set and the Pioneers were able to keep them at arm’s length throughout the rest of the set.

SDSU head coach Dan Georgalas said he thought his team came out a little flat and that led to 2-0 hole.

“[It was a slow start. We talk about it often; I think we had our chances to create that momentum early and we just didn’t capitalize. So, when you kind of make a few mistakes or two and get off to that slow start, it’s tough to dig yourself out of that hole,” Georgalas said.

SDSU finally got some momentum in the third set. The score was tied 9-9 when SDSU went on a 4-0 run to take the lead. During the run SDSU was able to finish off a long volley with a point and that led to momentum the rest of the set. Denver cut the lead to 17-16 and the Jacks answered with a 7-0 run to pull away and win the set 25-18.

Georgalas said both momentum and doing the little things led to the victory in set three.

“We certainly found our momentum and our confidence out of the intermission, but we played really clean. I think we only had one attacking error in that third set. We had way more than that in the first two. I think we were averaging six or seven hitting errors in the first two sets. So, playing clean is a big focus for us. We pride ourselves on doing the little things better than our opponent and remaining efficient there in the third set definitely helped us pull away,” Georgalas said.

After forcing a fourth set, SDSU came out flat and fell behind 6-1. However, the Jacks would fight back and get the match tied up at 12-12. The score was tied again at 15-15 and Denver went on a 7-1 run to go up 22-16. That allowed the Pioneers to get a 25-20 victory in set four and take the match. 

“We’re tied at 15-15 and we call timeout at 17-15, and I think Denver is one of the best serving teams in the league and they just prevented us from siding out late in that fourth set,” Georgalas said. “Unfortunately, they kind of built that three, four, five-point lead and at the end of the set it’s always kind of hard to come back from. 

“But we crawled our way back in the fourth set and tied it at 15’s and to be at that point, 10 points away from going into a fifth set with one of the better teams in the league [was good to see]. We had a chance and we’ll watch tape and figure out how we take advantage of that tomorrow.”

Denver had 56 kills as a team and SDSU had 41. The Pioneers had 49 assists and 74 digs, while the Jacks had 39 assists and 51 digs. Denver had an attack percentage of .225 and SDSU had one of .114.

SDSU was led by Crystal Burk who had 13 kills and 14 digs. Ella Thompson had nine kills and Raegan Reilly had 33 assists. Mesa Scheierman had six kills and Jadyn Makovicka had 12 digs.

Jordan Lockwood led the Pioneers with 14 kills and eight digs. Lorrin Poulter had 44 assists and 12 digs. Cadi Boyer had 11 kills and Gianna Vartalo had 23 digs. Alanya Finucan had 15 digs and Ryen Wilkens had 11. 

SDSU is now 6-7 on the season and has lost four-straight matches. The Jackrabbits will host Omaha on Saturday at 1 p.m. The match will include a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX and SDSU will be wearing special throwback uniforms. 

The Mavericks, who have the second best record overall record in the Summit League, fell on Thursday night in five sets to first place South Dakota. Georgalas said if his team wants to beat Omaha on Saturday, they’re going to have to show more confidence.

“I just want to see confidence. In the intermission we talked about how confidence is a choice and we can be so gritty and so good defensively. We really excel when we extend rallies and the play elongates. I think we get really self-conscience when we allow our opponents to get side out’s so easily. So, going into Omaha we’re going to look to bolster down our defense and pride ourselves on tightening our systems and doing the little things better than our opponent because they’re certainly going to be a talented team again,” he said.