Kirk Danielson

The Jackrabbit volleyball team has been on the road for the last three weekends.

They completed their eastern and southern trips for the year, and the team is still eyeing a possible post-season berth with three weeks this season. Since their last home game against Creighton, the Jacks have compiled a record of 5-3, to put them at 15-7 for the season.

At the IPFW tournament in Fort Wayne, Indiana, this last weekend, the Jacks swept North Florida University 3-0. On the second day of the tournament, the Jacks fell to IPFW 3-0 and beat Robert Morris University 3-0. Junior Kristina Martin and junior Amy Anderson were named to the all-tournament team.

The last weekend in September, the team participated in the Long Island Tournament in New York City. The Jacks kicked off the tournament by beating Sacred Heart College 3-0. They came up short against Virginia Commonwealth 3-1 and were swept by Long Island University 3-0. Martin was the lone Jackrabbit named to the all-tournament team.

Coach Andrew Palileo commented on the tournament.

“I didn’t think we played that well,” he said. “It wasn’t that they were the two better teams. We had two starters missing, and didn’t come out ready to play.”

Last weekend the Jacks brought out the brooms in Edinburg, Texas. The Jacks swept Texas Pan-American University 3-0 on Friday and again, 3-0, on Saturday.

Coach Palileo said, “I thought that we would be pretty successfully offensively against Pan-American. They give up on their blocking pretty easily.”

A balanced attack helped the Jacks win last weekend as Anderson led the Jacks with 15 kills in both games. Martin added 10 kills in one game, with 11 in the other.

Other Jacks to finish with double figure kills over the weekend were Emily Rooney with 12 kills in the first game, and Minette Ridenour with 13 kills in the second game.

Junior Samantha Pearson posted 38 digs on the weekend to finish at 994 for her SDSU career.

In an overall assessment of the past few weeks, Coach Palileo said, “we’re a good team, but we’re not like a great team, that we can come out flat and expect to win against good teams. That’s what’s happening right now. We’re not coming out with the intensity we need to. It’s been a tough road to climb out of.”

Sounds like they need a good Jackrabbit crowd to crank the intensity back up. That’s something they’ve been without the last three weeks. So come on out and make some noise this weekend.

The Jackrabbits look to keep their winning streak alive Friday night at Frost Arena against Utah Valley State.