ST. PAUL, Minn. (SDSU) – South Dakota State volleyball opened the conference season with a 3-0 win over St. Thomas Thursday night at Schoenecker Arena.

The Jacks dominated the opening set, 25-16, then held off the Tommies in sets two and three with 25-23 and 26-24 wins. SDSU trailed 17-11 in the final set but came all the way back to secure the sweep.

Katie Van Egdom tallied 16 kills at a .400 clip for the Jackrabbits, her personal high for kills in a three-set match. Three other Jacks put down at least six kills – Sylvie Zgonc had 10, Sydni Schetnan added eight and Elyse Winter chipped in six kills. Schetnan hit .333 in the match.

Raegen Reilly dished a season-high 36 assists and tallied nine digs. Stella Winterfeld paced the defense with 16 digs while adding three assists and an ace. Zgonc posted 14 digs and Rylee Martin had 10. Also on the defensive end, Winter notched five total blocks (four assisted, one solo). Schetnan recorded three blocks and McKenna Moehrle added two.

St. Thomas was led by Kaitlynn Peterson’s nine kills. Morgan Kealy gave out 30 assists and Ella Voegele recorded 23 digs.

The teams were even in total kills with 44 apiece, but the Jackrabbits had the edge in aces (2-1) and blocks (7-4). SDSU committed 12 attack errors compared to 20 errors by UST.

Set One: Runs on both sides resulted in an 9-6 lead for St. Thomas in the opening set. Kills by Van Egdom and Moehrle plus four errors by UST resulted in a 12-9 lead for the Jackrabbits. An 8-1 stretch that featured three kills from Schetnan and a Winterfeld ace pushed SDSU ahead 21-12. Winter recorded three of the Jackrabbits’ final four kills for the 25-16 win.

Set Two: St. Thomas led 8-5 in the opening set, then a block by Reilly and Winter and kills from Zgonc and Van Egdom tied the set at eight-all. Three UST errors and a Reilly kill made it 12-9 for the Jackrabbits. The Tommies quickly regained the lead at 14-13. Down 20-18, SDSU came back to tie the set at 20 on Van Egdom and Zgonc kills, then surged to go ahead 24-22. Van Egdom gave the Jackrabbits a 2-0 match score with a kill to end it.

Set Three: The teams traded points in the final set before a 5-1 run put the home team up 15-10. The Tommies led by six, 17-11, before the Jacks began to claw their way back into the set. Van Egdom put down two kills to help SDSU back within four, 18-14, then three straight Tommie errors pulled the Jackrabbits within two, 19-17. Down three again, Van Egdom notched two kills and Winter added one to tie the set at 22. A bad set from the Tommies and another Van Egdom kill put the Jackrabbits up 24-23. Tied against at 24, a Tommie attack error and block by Moehrle and Schetnan competed the Jackrabbit comeback.

NOTES

  • South Dakota State starts the Summit League season 1-0. The Jackrabbits are 3-10 on the season. St. Thomas is 4-8 (0-1 Summit).
  • SDSU is 2-6 in sweeps this season.
  • 41 team assists by the Jackrabbits is the most in a three-set match this season.
  • 58 team digs is the third-most of the season and the most in a three-set match.
  • Seven team blocks is the most for the Jackrabbits in a three-set match this season.


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The Jackrabbits play at Kansas City Saturday afternoon. First serve is at 1 p.m.