The South Dakota State Jackrabbit volleyball team notched their 20th win on the season against Denver last Saturday. The Jacks are now 20-0 on the season after the 3-1 win over the Pioneers.

The 20-0 start ties their best start in program history since 1975.

“I caught another coach on the way up here and he said, ‘Man your group is tough” Said head coach Dan Georgalas. “And I couldn’t agree more because if there’s one thing, I will remember most from this season it’s how many close sets we’ve had. How many times we won by two, how many times we’ve come back from 20-23, or come back down two sets to one, or come back down 0-2. This group is tough, and they’ve got grit and they’ve got grind, and here we are at 20-0.”

Sophomore star Sylvie Zgonc had a monster game against the Pioneers with 25 kills, 10 digs and three blocks. That is the sophomore’s 12th double-double in just 20 games.

Graduate student Alyssa Groves and Junior Katie Van Egdom also helped add to the scoring with both Jackrabbits scoring nine kills.

The two SDSU setters also had a good night offensively with Rylee Martin and Camryn Honn having 26 and 15 assists respectively.

Defensively the Jacks had 13 total blocks as a team. Groves notched six blocks followed closely by Sydni Schetnan who notched five.

SDSU started set one tied at six with Denver before Denver pulled away and took the set 25-18.

After the slow start to the match in the first set SDSU looked to bounce back but found themselves down 12-15 before going on a run and taking the second set 27-25 to tie the match at 1-1.

The third set started with a 4-1 Jackrabbit lead before the Pioneers took a 20-17 lead. But SDSU stormed back to win the set 26-24.

The Jacks came out strong in set four, taking a 10-2 lead and they never looked back and ended the set with a 25-18 win to take the match 3-1 over Denver.

 “We still have that chip on our shoulder, and we still have something to prove,” said Georgalas. “I think that is a character attribute that this team has.”

Omaha

Today, the Jacks will head to Omaha to play the Mavericks at 7 p.m.

SDSU will try to keep their win streak alive going into Saturday’s match against the Roos of Kansas City.

The Jacks are led by  Zgonc, who has totaled 332 kills, 198 digs, 33 blocks and 20 aces. That totals out to 374 points on the season.

Redshirt junior Schetnan is also a big contributor for the Jacks. She leads the team in blocks with 106 and is second in kills with 198. She has a total of 263.5 points this year.

The jackrabbit setter Martin is also a big reason for the 20-0 start. The sophomore has stuffed the stat sheet with her passing abilities this season. She has accounted for 529 assists for the Jacks this season.

Omaha goes into this match hoping to improve on their 11-10 record. Though Omaha is barely over .500 on the season, the Mavericks boast a 9-1 conference record.

The Mavericks have two standout scorers so far this season. Kali Jurgensmeier the junior outside hitter leads the team with 296 points and 252 points.

Following closely behind with 294.5 points and 234 kills is the middle blocker McKenna Ruch.

Senior Shayla McCormick has also accounted for over 200 points on the season with 222. She also leads the team in digs with 226.

The Maverick’s sophomore setter Ivy Leuck also has stuffed the stat sheet this year with 587 assists and 133 digs.

Kansas City

The Jacks will head to Kansas City to play the Roos this Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Roos are coming off a 3-1 loss to USD and are now 4-17 on the season. They will go into Saturday’s match hoping to pin a loss on a very good SDSU team and turn their season around.

Graduate Student outside hitter Kaia Dunford is fourth in the Summit League in kills with 282 just seven kills behind second place Cassie Davis of Denver. She has also tallied 202 digs this season.

Junior setter Sydney Henry has also had an impressive season with 619 total assists and 199 digs in their 21 games.

The Roos have struggled slightly in blocking coming in seventh in the summit league in total blocks. The blocks leader for Kansas City is Ledsi Kpea with 53 blocks on the season.