The South Dakota State women’s volleyball team will open its season against the University of Illinois on Friday, August 29, at 1 p.m. in Cedar Falls, Iowa part of the Northern Iowa Tournament. This game can be streamed on ESPN+.
Saturday, they play the hosting University of Northern Iowa Panthers at 5 p.m. to end their two-game tournament schedule.
The Jackrabbits will look to carry over their dominance from last season and start the season as well as last year, where they got off to an incredible 22-0 start before losing in a five-set match to St. Thomas.
SDSU ended the regular season 26-1 and was the first seed in the Summit League Tournament.
The team earned a first-round bye and in the second round, they defeated Denver in a five-set match before losing a five-set battle in the championship game to the rival USD Coyotes.
Even without being Summit League Champions, they earned a spot in the NCAA tournament, where they played the number eight-seeded Miami Hurricanes, whom they lost to in a 3-0 sweep.
Despite the first-round sweep in the tournament, it was a great step in the right direction for Jacks, who hadn’t made the tournament since 2007. Last season may have been a huge step, but they will still look to do something they haven’t done since 2007, and that’s win the Summit League Tournament.
A key player who will help them accomplish this is 2024 Summit League Player of the Year Sylvie Zgonc.
The outside hitter Zgonc is coming off a sophomore season in which she led the Summit League in kills with 494 and points with 551.5, while also ranking in the top ten in digs with 301.
Another key returning piece for the Jackrabbits is redshirt senior Sydni Schetnan. The middle blocker was awarded with an appearance on the 2024 All Summit League Volleyball First Team.
In 2024, Schetnan led the Summit League in hitting percentage with 38.8 percent and blocks with 146.
The team is led by the 2024 Summit League Coach of the Year, Dan Georgalas. Georgalas is entering his sixth year as the SDSU head coach with a 79-61 record.
His first test of the season will come against the Illinois Fighting Illini, who are coming off an 18-12 regular season where they went exactly .500 against Big Ten competition.
Illinois’ season was good enough to get them an invite to the NCAA tournament, where they lost in the first round to the University of Northern Iowa to put their final record at 18-13.
The Fighting Illini’s leading scorer from last season, Raina Terry, graduated, making the team’s second leading scorer, senior Avery Hernandez, an even bigger piece of the team’s success.
In 2024, she had 291 kills, 43 blocks and 178 digs, which was second most on the team. She scored a total of 340.5 points, adding 114 sets to the stat line.
Freshman middle blocker Ashlyn Philpot is another player to look out for. In her true freshman season, she recorded 285.5 points with 215 kills and a team-leading 126 blocks, which placed her 13th in the Big 10 in blocks.
The second matchup for SDSU is the University of Northern Iowa. They ended the regular season with a 23-7 record. The Panthers continued their successful season by winning the Missouri Valley Conference Championship game and moving on to the NCAA Tournament.
They matched up against Illinois in the first round and won 3-1 to face the number four-seeded Louisville Cardinals, where they were handed a five-set loss in the second round.
The Jackrabbits have to face a two-headed scoring duo when facing the Panthers. Senior Kira Fallert ended the 2024 season with 435 kills and 496 points, which led UNI and ranked third in the MVC for both stats. She also managed to share the 2024 MVC Co-Player of the Year with Macy Daufeldt from Drake.
Outside hitter Cassidy Hartman is coming off a freshman season during which she was awarded MVC 2024 Volleyball All-Conference Second Team. She was second on the team with 431.5 points and seventh in the MVC.
Other notable players include senior libero Erin Powers, middle blocker Kacie Rewerts and Senior Olivia Tjernagel, who were all awarded MVC 2024 Volleyball All Conference First Team.
The next matchup for the Jackrabbits will be the SDSU Invitational presented by Canine Country Club, starting on Sept. 5 when the Jacks host Ole Miss at 7 p.m.
