BROOKINGS – South Dakota State won the inaugural set 25-17; however, Omaha took the next three by the scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-22 to win a Summit League volleyball opener Friday night at Frost Arena.
“We came out in Set 1 on fire. We controlled the game, and pretty much rolled into the win. In Set 2, they came out and played much better on their end. It was a close set. In Sets 3 and 4, we kind of started to break down. We lost a little confidence,” coach Nicole Cirillo told SDSU Sports Information. “Sets 3 and 4 are definitely a concern, but Sets 1 and 2 I thought were great. We have to work on being consistent like in Sets 1 and 2.”
Isabella Sade finished with 15 kills and 1 1/2 blocks to lead the Mavericks.
Claire Leonard contributed 13 kills and a block assist. Sadie Limback totaled 10 kills, two service aces, a block and 16 digs. Anna Blaschko had 10 kills and a pair of blocks (one solo).
Sydney Case guided the offense with 48 set assists and Claire Mountjoy paced the defense with 19 digs. Abby Bergsten tallied five kills.
For the Jackrabbits, Sierra Peterson notched 11 kills and two blocks.
Ashlynn Smith added eight kills, an ace, a block and seven digs.. Payton Richardson had six kills and four blocks. Sydney Andrews accounted for seven kills, one ace and a block. Makenzie Hennen had seven kills, 1 1/2 blocks and 10 digs.
Maddie Fay dished out 37 set assists. Kasey Brower came up with 10 digs and Ellie Thein added nine.
SDSU (3-11, 0-1), which has lost 17 consecutive league matches, returns to action at Denver on Sunday at 3 p.m. UNO (6-7, 1-0) plays at North Dakota State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Register photo: South Dakota State’s Ashlynn Smith (4) drills a kill past Omaha’s Isabella Sade (6) and Abby Bergsten (3) during the third set of the Jackrabbits’ 3-1 Summit League loss to the Mavericks on Friday night at Frost Arena.
