Last Thursday through Saturday, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits volleyball team hosted the Jackrabbit Invitation at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.
After the three-match tournament, the Jacks stayed perfect on the season moving to 11-0 for the first time since 2000.
“We have a huge chip on our shoulder this year,” said junior outside hitter Katie Van Egdom. “Everybody is here to give it their all. We’re in the gym, working our butts off every day. Just getting in there and doing it for each other and having that culture mindset, I think that’s what’s setting us apart this year.”
SDSU opened the Jackrabbit Invitation against the 7-2 Idaho State Bengals on Thursday. They swept the Bengals to move to an outstanding 9-0 on the season.
In the first match, the Jackrabbits were able to limit the number one blocking team in the country in Idaho State to just six blocks.
Senior, Annalee Ventling-Brown, ended the match with the best hitting percentage for the Jacks notching a .600 clip on ten attempts. She finished the match with seven kills and a trio of blocks.
Sophomore standout Sylvie Zgonc tallied her sixth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 12 digs.
Zgonc wasn’t the only sophomore with a double-double though. Rylee Martin notched 18 assists to go with her 10 digs. Camryn Honn also helped with the assisting duties dishing out 15 of her own.
In the first match, the Jacks had a very consistent sweep. The Jacks took all three sets by almost the same score. After completing the win in set one (25-19), set two (25-19) and set three (25-18), the Jacks completed their fifth sweep so far this season.
In the second match, SDSU survived a five-set thriller against the Toledo Rockets to stay undefeated through the first ten games.
The Jacks managed to win the match and set a new program record for blocks in a match with 19.
Freshman, Madison Burr, led the way defensively for the tournament hosts tallying ten blocks which ties her program record. Burr also completed a double-double by adding ten kills to her stat line.
Sydni Schetnan followed closely behind Burr defensively with nine blocks and 12 kills.
Offensively Zgonc had a team-high 17 kills while adding eight digs, three blocks and one ace.
The two SDSU setters both recorded double-digit assists with zero errors. Martin accounted for 26 and Honn tallied 14 assists followed by 11 digs and three aces.
In this close-fought match, SDSU was able to take the first (25-22) and second set (25-17). But Toledo stormed back and took set three (19-25). In set four, SDSU and Toledo found themselves in a dogfight, with the Rockets besting the Jackrabbits (29-31). In the final set, SDSU fell behind 8-5 to start then stormed back to take the set 15-13 and win the match 3-2.
“Unbelievable, I keep using the term wild and unreal, I don’t know any other way to describe it.” said head coach Dan Georgalas about the five-set match against Toledo. “I think that is the best non conference win we have ever had, and certainly the most action-packed.”
In the final match of the weekend, SDSU took care of business by sweeping the Belmont Bruins on Saturday afternoon to complete the 11-0 start.
The Jacks tallied 13 blocks in the match, with the freshman Burr leading the team with seven blocks. Schetnan and Groves also helped out defensively, each contributing five blocks.
Zgonc once again came out of the match with a double-double. Zgonc registered 17 kills, 11 digs, one ace and one block to notch her seventh double-double in 11 matches.
The Jackrabbit setters Martin and Honn didn’t quite get a double-double, but they did manage to record 14 and 15 assists respectively while each adding 8 digs.
SDSU took set one 25-18 and the second set 25-19. The Jackrabbits were able to take pretty convincing wins and in the third set (25-22) the Jacks held off the Bruins in a closer battle to complete the sweep.
This Thursday the Jacks will travel to Tulsa, Okla. to open conference play against Oral Roberts at 7:00 PM.
“Now the real season starts.” Georgalas said.
