SDSU volleyball comes up short against USD

Posted

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State volleyball showed more progress again on Saturday night as the Jackrabbits took one of the top teams in the Summit League to five sets. Unfortunately, SDSU was unable to pick up the win in the fifth set and South Dakota came away with the win in front of a record crowd of 1,524 rans at Frost Arena.

This was the second straight match between USD and SDSU that went to five sets. The Coyotes beat the Jacks in five sets in the Summit League semifinals last season. SDSU head coach Dan Georgalas said he thinks his team is closer than ever to being one of the top teams in the Summit League.

“I think we’re there. I’m disappointed for our group, but I’m happy for them. They competed super hard and played super well. Did we deserve to win, sure. Did it happen tonight, no. But we’ll separate ourselves from the results and we’ll get back to our process. We have two road games next week. The way I phrased it to our team was that we just played three of the top four teams in the league in the first two weeks here. We played Denver, beat Omaha and then USD. We went 2-2 in that four-game stretch. That’s a great result for us in my opinion. … I’m really happy with how we started league play,” Georgalas said.

SDSU (8-8, 2-2) got out to a fast start and led 12-7 in the first set. The Jacks rode that momentum throughout the rest of the set and took set one, 25-16. SDSU then trailed 13-0 in the second set, but used a 5-1 run to tie the set at 14-14. The Jacks would then lead 22-19 before USD went on a 6-1 run to steal set two from SDSU with a 25-23 victory.

Georgalas said USD got some momentum on a weird bounce and that’s what led to the run that won the Coyotes the set.

“Unfortunately, one super weird play fell on our side and unfortunately that kind of changed the momentum. We had a three-point lead there at the end of the second set and we put ourselves in a position to win. I’m just super happy for our team that we gave ourselves that opportunity. Sometimes the ball rolls our way and sometimes it doesn’t. Unfortunately, that end of the second set it slipped away from us,” Georgalas said.

The Coyotes (14-2, 3-1) then got momentum going in third set as they jumped out to a 10-3 lead. SDSU would cut the lead to 17-13, but USD ended up tacking set three, 25-16.

With their backs then against the wall, the Jacks stepped up and were able to force a fifth set. The ‘Yotes led 14-12 when SDSU used an 8-0 run to take a 20-14 lead. USD would cut the lead to 24-22 before a kill from Elyse Winter gave the Jacks the win and set up a winner-take-all fifth set.

Georgalas said he was proud of the way his team responded in the fourth set and the resiliency they showed.

“[My team] is resilient. We’ve played eight five set matches and some of these sets you’d like to say, don’t give them that second set, but at the same time five setters are a part of our game and we want to be in that type of moment. Pressure is a privilege and to be in a five setter against a league champ, we know we can contend with them, obviously the performance shows that. We’re going to keep banging away and get that big win,” he said.

SDSU would score the first two points of the fifth set, but USD responded with four straight points. The Coyotes then extended their lead to 11-5 and led 13-6 before SDSU went on a 4-0 run to force a USD timeout. The ‘Yotes came out of the timeout and scored the next two points to take the set and the match.

Georgalas said he thought his team played good in the fifth set, but USD was just better.

“We go up 2-0 and then they just went on a big run after that. So, [USD’s] service pressure was good in the fifth set and I don’t know if we necessarily bad in the fifth set. they just played better. So, credit to them. These matches every single time seem to be really competitive. That’s two five setters in-a-row against our instate rival and I’m okay with that loss. We played great, we competed hard and we executed well at times. We know we’re closer than ever to that result and we gave ourselves and opportunity to get it and that’s all we can ask for,” Georgalas said.

USD had an attack percentage of .200 and SDSU’s attack percentage was .189. The Coyotes had 57 kills and the Jacks had 53. USD had 76 digs and SDSU had 62. The ‘Yotes had 53 assists and the Jacks had 50. Each team had 10 blocks and 12 aces.

Crystal Burk led SDSU with 18 kills, 15 digs and four aces. Masa Scheierman had 14 kills and Ella Thompson had nine kills and seven blocks. Raegan Reilly had 44 assists and seven digs. Jadyn Makovicka had 18 digs and two aces. Winter had three aces and Sydney Andrews had three blocks.

Elizabeth Juhnke had 19 kills, 10 digs and three blocks to lead the Coyotes. Brooklyn Schram had 49 assists and Lolo Weideman had 33 digs. Madison Harms had 16 kills and Evelyn Diederich had 12 kills. Kamryn Farris had 15 digs.

The record setting crowd on Saturday night was a sign that Jackrabbit volleyball is regaining a fanbase that disappeared after years of poor play. Georgalas is building something in Brookings and he thanked everyone that came out to cheer on SDSU on Saturday night.

“Super grateful [for the crowd],” Georgalas said. “Thank you to everyone that came out. Again, we didn’t get the result, but we’re so thankful for our fanbase. To be a part of something that’s much bigger than ourselves. Our cup is full. We want to extend the most gratitude to our fanbase. 

“What an awesome environment for volleyball in the state of South Dakota. What an awesome rivalry. I love this blue, red rivalry. Thank you to all the fans that showed up and allowed us to set an attendance record. That elevates the expectation and we’ve been talking about that a ton with our program culture. Now that foundation is just a little bit higher and we’ll get back to work on Monday and try to move it forward.”

SDSU will hit the road next. The Jacks will play at Western Illinois on Thursday at 6 p.m. and at St. Thomas on Saturday at noon.