The Jacks Woman’s Volleyball team had their third tournament of four before they hit conference play as they returned from the Ole Miss Invite, winning one match and losing two.
“The traveling has been super fun,” said Katie Van Egdom. “We won’t get this experience again, so it’s been super awesome.”
The Jackrabbits had two matches on Sept. 8, winning their first by a sweep and losing their second in the same fashion.
Going into the tournament 1-5, South Dakota State saw their first win in two weeks against Alcorn State. In the sweep, the Jacks had a total of 45 kills to Alcorn State’s 23 with Sylvie Zgonc getting 13 as well as Sydni Schetnan with nine. Outside hitter Masa Scheierman finished with eight kills on her own, a season high record for the sophomore.
SDSU finished with 39 assists with Raegen Reilly and Rylee Martin being a part of 34 of them.
The first set was the closest of the trio, with the score ending at 25-18. With just a one-point advantage for the Jacks, McKenna Moehrle picked up a kill which gave SDSU the upper hand and went on a 7-2 run to bring the score to 21-17 before scoring four straight points to end the set.
Set two saw a close 10-8 score before the Jacks went on a six-point run. Along with two points scored by the Braves, the Jacks added five more to their own, putting Alcorn State behind, 21-10. With two kills from Scheierman, the Jacks found themselves with a 4-0 run to end match two 25-12.
The Jacks pulled away early in the final set, with nine of the first ten points of the match being scored by the ladies in blue and gold. Martin had two aces on another stretch for the Jacks bringing the already lopsided score to 17-7.
SDSU took their first win of the tournament beating Alcorn State out on a sweep, foreshadowing their defeat in their next match against tournament host Ole Miss.
The Jacks were outmatched against the now 5-3 Rebels. Zgonc pulled in 10 of the Jacks’ 30 kills on her own in the match with Scheierman and Van Egdom bringing in seven a piece.
In their match against Alcorn State, South Dakota State had a .385 hitting percentage. That percentage dropped to 21.7% in the three sets against Ole Miss. Though low, Van Egdom had a .467, her best single match percentage of her career.
Ole miss broke away mid to 14-9 before the Jackrabbits scored six unanswered points and led the match 16-14. South Dakota State took the edge late in the set with Scheierman and Van Egdom breaking the 18- all tie. Though the lead would not last as the Rebels came back on a stretch and took set one 23-25.
In the next two sets, the Jacks steadily declined, losing set two by eight points and the final set 25-9, to the Rebels.
The Jacks played their final match of the weekend on Saturday, Sept. 9 against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles and stayed neck and neck throughout all four sets, with their 20-25 loss in the third set being their least close game.
Both the Jacks and the Golden Eagles finished their four-set match with 51 kills while SDSU’s hitting percentage declined to .147 to Tennessee Tech’s .184.
The Jacks took an early 6-3 lead in the first set. After a four-point run from TTU, the Jacks regained the lead with a close 14-10. South Dakota State continued with the lead until they were two points away from taking the set. With the score 23-19, the Golden Eagles took a six-point comeback from behind to take set one, 23-25.
Tennessee Tech started off hot in set two, but by the time they could add, SDSU came from behind and brought it to 6-4. It remained a close contested matchup, but a 5-0 Jacks run moved the Jacks up by six points. After an 18-all score, South Dakota State edged out with a 25-23 victory.
South Dakota State would lose both the third and fourth sets of the match.
Set three started hot for the Jacks as they went up four to two, courtesy of two kills from Van Egdom. Although the Jacks could not maintain their lead, losing the set 20-25.
The final set of the game proved to be the closest. The match stayed close with SDSU leading for most of the time before TTU edged out and took an 18-19 lead but tied once again at 20-20. After a 4-1 run from the Golden Eagles, South Dakota State could not force a comeback to push for a fifth set, giving the match to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in four sets.
South Dakota State will head to Boise, Idaho for the Boise State Classic to play Montana, Boise State and Loyola Marymount over a three day stretch starting Thursday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. central time.
“We have a lot to prove this weekend, so I think we are all really excited to go out there and compete,” said Van Egdom.
