Jackrabbit volleyball goes 0-3 at Hawkeye Invitational

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IOWA CITY – The South Dakota State volleyball team went 0-3 in its final nonconference tournament over the weekend. The Jackrabbits were swept by Iowa and Northern Iowa on Friday in the Hawkeye Invitational and then fell in five sets to North Florida on Saturday.

Friday

 Iowa 3, SDSU 0

Crystal Burk put down 14 kills against the Hawkeyes to lead all players. The fifth-year senior hit .257 and also contributed five digs, two aces and two blocks. Anna Nerad added eight kills and had two blocks and an ace.

Raegen Reilly had 16 assists and notched three kills on five attempts. Carly Wedel added 10 helpers while Faith Saewert collected 13 digs to lead the defense.

The Jacks trailed by as many as six in the opening set but worked their way back to a one-point deficit at 19-18. Down 24-21, SDSU used a kill and an ace from Burk to make it a one-point game again before a serving error gave Iowa the set. SDSU outhit Iowa .303 to .297 in game one.

Iowa took control early in the second set, racing out to a 9-3 lead over the Jacks. The Hawkeyes pushed the advantage to 19-9. A 5-1 run pulled SDSU back within six, then the Hawkeyes ended set two on a 5-1 run of their own. Iowa hit .522 in the second set with 14 kills and only two errors.

The Hawks looked to carry their dominance into the third set with a  6-1 start. Then, with Nerad serving, SDSU stormed back to tie the game 6-6 behind an ace, a pair of Thompson kills and two Iowa attack errors. The Jacks went on to lead 10-7 but the Hawkeyes strung together a 7-1 run to regain the lead, 14-11. SDSU led again at 20-18 but Iowa ended the match outscoring the Jacks 7-2.

 Northern Iowa 3, SDSU 0

In the match against Northern Iowa, Jadyn Makovicka paced the Jackrabbits with 27 digs as the libero, bringing her collegiate total to 1,000 digs. She also chipped in a pair of assists and one ace serve.

Burk again led the Jackrabbit offense, tallying 19 kills. She was followed by a career-best 13 kills from freshman Masa Scheierman. Nerad also had 13 kills and added five blocks.

Ella Thompson notched six blocks against the Panthers go with nine kills. Reilly gave out 52 assists and had one ace and one block.

The Jacks and the Panthers went back-and-forth in the opening set before a six-point stretch gave UNI an 11-7 lead. The Panthers extended their lead to seven, 22-15, and were able to cruise to the end of set one. 

SDSU responded by jumping out to a 9-3 lead in set two. The run included a seven-point stretch with Reily at the service line and two kills apiece from Burk and Nerad. Another Burk kill put the Jacks up eight at 18-10. After letting the Panthers cut the deficit to two with a six-point stretch, SDSU ended the set on a 7-1 run capped off by a kill from Scheierman.

The sides exchanged runs through the early part of set three and found themselves tied at 14-all. Reilly snuck in a kill for the 15-14 SDSU advantage before UNI took control with a 10-2 run. Trailing 24-17, the Jacks got two kills from Scheierman and a pair of errors from the Panthers to come back within three but before UNI finished off the set.

The Jacks nearly forced a tiebreak set with strong play in set four. Down 23-18 to SDSU, the Panthers put themselves back in the set with four straight points. Thompson ended the scoreless stretch with a kill, setting up set point, but UNI came back again to lead 25-24. From there the teams traded points until UNI finally got the better of the Jacks, 35-33.

Saturday

 North Florida 3, SDSU 2

South Dakota State volleyball dropped to 6-6 on the season Saturday with a 3-2 loss to North Florida (2-9) at the Hawkeye Invitational. Set scores against the Ospreys went (17-25, 19-25, 25-20, 28-26, 9-15).

Crystal Burk posted her ninth double-double of the year with 24 kills and 16 digs to lead the Jackrabbits. Ella Thompson set a new career high with her 14 kills and registered a .440 clip.

Raegen Reilly gave out 53 assists to go with 10 digs and four kills. Libero Jadyn Makovicka notched 15 digs and four assists.

The Jacks and the Ospreys combined for 11 ace serves - six by SDSU and five by UNF. Elyse Winter had three aces.

Trailing 2-0 in the match, SDSU rallied in the next two sets to force the tiebreak game.

Set five stayed tight through the first few points but North Florida ended the match on a 7-1 run.

UP NEXT

The Jackrabbits host Denver Thursday night at Frost in the Summit League opener. First serve is set for 7 p.m.