The South Dakota State volleyball team continues their struggles after dropping two home matches last week at Frost.
The Jackrabbits are currently battling a four-game losing streak as they fall to 3-14 on the season.
“I was really happy with both of our performances and how we competed this weekend,” head coach Dan Georgalas said. “We keep putting ourselves into those winning moments, and I feel like our breakthrough opportunity is right in front of us.”
On Thursday night, the Jacks faced off against the North Dakota State Bison in a border battle that was hard-fought on both sides of the net. Unfortunately, SDSU wasn’t able to clinch the victory and the Bison walked away with a sweep.
The Jacks fell short by two points, 26-24 and 25-23 , in sets one and two. Raegen Reilly notched 33 assists on the night along with10 digs and 3 blocks. Sylvie Zgonc totaled 13 kills coupled with Stella Winterfeld’s 14 digs.
Coming back Saturday, the Jackrabbits matched up with the Omaha Mavericks. After suffering two set losses, the Jacks bounced back with 25-20 win in set three. Despite their efforts, the Jacks dropped the match 23-25 in the fourth set. Serving errors showed to be a struggle for SDSU as they tallied 11 in the match.
Katie Van Egdom led the Jackrabbits with 22 kills, a new career high, along with adding 11 digs. Rylee Martin had 28 assists, a new career high, paired with 14 digs from Reilly.
Although the team loss brought disappointment, the silver lining lies with the individual contributions. Improvement was noted in the Jacks hitting percentage along with two players setting career highs. The team welcomed back senior outside hitter, Akeela Jefferson, as she made her first season appearance as a serving sub.
The Jacks will continue this week heading south to play Oral Roberts Thursday at 7 p.m. and then match up against Denver again Saturday at 2 p.m.
“Now we get ORU on Thursday and that’s a team we want to finish above,” Georgalas said. “We’re really excited to play them, and we’re really excited for revenge against Denver on Saturday.”
