The South Dakota State volleyball team lost its first home game of the season last Thursday in Frost Arena.
Frost Arena has been under construction the past year, but was able to open its doors and welcome Jackrabbit fans to come support the SDSU Volleyball team.
“It’s something that you don’t realize how much you’re going to miss until you have months without it,” Elyse Winter, junior outside hitter said. “And then going back it was a great feeling.”
The Jacks competed against the Denver Pioneers in a thrilling four set match. All sets ended with close scores, but the Pioneers were able to persevere and win the match 3-1.
“We were disappointed,” head coach Dan Georgalas said. “We feel like we let one get away, where our opponent played sloppy enough for us to win and we could’ve played cleaner on our end.”
Following a 21-25 loss in the first set, the Jacks were searching for an answer to take set two. An SDSU run late in the second set would put things away for the Jacks as they evened things out winning 25-21.
Tied up at 1-1, the Jackrabbits were off to a great start early in the third set up 8-3. Unfortunately, Denver was able to regain momentum and take the set 25-23.
Similar to the third set, set four was a back-and-forth battle between both teams. Neither team was able to make a substantial run until halfway through the fourth set. The match came down to a 1-point game, but Denver was able to pull away and take the final set 25-23.
Outside hitter, Katie Van Egdom, climbed her way to the top notching 17 kills, both team highs. Raegen Reilly totaled 38 assists on the night coupled with Rylee Martin’s 14 digs. McKenna Moehrle finished with 7 blocks, both team highs.
Amidst this loss, the Jacks will drop their second match in a row and land themselves at 1-2 in conference play.
“The silver lining is that two of those sets were 25-23 that we lost,” Georgalas said. “To lose in four, there was a great competitive effort, and the margin of victory is just that much.”
This week, the Jackrabbits will remain home facing off against North Dakota State on Thursday at 7 p.m. and take on Omaha on Saturday at 1 p.m.
