Griz, ‘Dons too much for Jackrabbits

Travis Kriens

Travis Kriens

A week after sweeping back-to-back home conference matches, the SDSU women’s volleyball team dropped a pair of Summit League road matchups this past weekend.

On Sept. 19, the Jacks seemed on their way to defeating Oakland (8-2, 3-1) with a 2-1 advantage heading into the fourth set. However, SDSU would fail to take another lead in the final two sets, losing 25-17, 18-25, 15-25, 25-16 and 15-8.

SDSU was led by a trio of freshmen, as Kelly Herrmann set a career high with 11 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. Fiona Jones had a team-high 12 kills with 14 digs, and Kaitlin Klingemann added a career-best 10 kills of her own.

Brazilian junior setter Thyele Rechatiko had a career-high 28 assists, while sophomore Emily Palmer set a career-high mark of 12 digs.

“That was obviously an exciting win,” said Oakland head coach Rob Beam. “We had a fantastic crowd here tonight. It was exciting for us, and the team really fed off the energy. When we were down 2-1, I think the team needed a lift. We got a point right away and the crowd responded, and from there we built on the momentum they gave us.”

The second match of the weekend against IPFW would not be as close.

The Mastodons swept SDSU 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-20).

Ellyce Youngren led SDSU with eight kills, with Klingemann adding seven, as the pair had more than half of the team’s 29 total kills. Rechatiko dished out 20 assists with Palmer recording 10 digs.

The Jacks (3-7, 2-2) were back in action on Sept. 22 at Creighton (4-8). They return home this weekend with a Sept. 25 match against Western Illinois (5-8, 2-1) and a Sept. 26 tilt versus IUPUI (10-2, 3-0). Both matches start at 7 p.m.

In the losses to Oakland and IPFW, the Jacks were without Kelli Fiegen, who sat out with an injury. Fiegen will also sit out in the matches against Creighton, Western Illinois and IUPUI.