By Andrew Holtan
The Brookings Beacon
VERMILLION – The South Dakota State volleyball team picked up a statement win on Friday night as the Jackrabbits swept South Dakota at the Sanford Coyotes Sports Center.
It was the first conference match for the Jacks and they improved to 5-7 on the season.
SDSU fell behind 11-5 in the first set. The Jacks would then go on a 7-1 run and tied things up at 12-12. USD did not relinquish the lead until SDSU scored two straight points to go up 21-20. It was then 21-21 and the Jacks scored four points in-a-row to take the first set.
The two teams traded points in the second set until the ‘Yotes scored three straight points to go up 13-10. SDSU answered with three points in-a-row and then went on a 6-0 run to go up 21-15. The Jacks eventually won the second set 25-20.
SDSU jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the third set. The Coyotes would cut it to 11-8 but the Jacks pushed the lead 16-10. The lead bounced between three and until Sylvie Zgonc had a kill that gave SDSU a 25-18 win in set three and completed the sweep.
The Jacks had 47 kills as a team and the Coyotes had 34. SDSU had 65 digs and 45 assists. USD had 49 digs and 34 assists.
Zgonc led the Jacks with 19 kills and 13 digs. Hannah Klein had 11 kills and Claire Logeais had six kills. Rylee Martin had 40 assists and 10 digs. Joslyn Richardson had 15 digs.
SDSU will remain on the road at the beginning of conference play as the Jacks play at Omaha on Thursday and at St. Thomas on Saturday. Thursday’s match is set to start at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday’s match will begin at 12 p.m.
