SDSU drops WIU to snap skid

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BROOKINGS – The streak is over.

South Dakota State beat Western Illinois 22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-27, 16-14 in a Summit League volleyball match Friday night at Frost Arena to snap a 22-match losing skid in conference play.

It marked the 900th victory in program history.

“It’s extremely exciting. We’ve had this in the back of our minds dating to last year honestly, but super proud,” coach Nicole Cirillo told SDSU Sports Information. “It was a very emotional match. Back and forth and back and forth. We were down then we were up and then down. So, it was important that we maintained our poise and worked things through and didn’t give up. We continued to fight.”

Consecutive kills by Ashlynn Smith and Makenzie Hennen put the Jackrabbits ahead 15-14 in Set 5, and a Leatherneck attack error ended it as SDSU beat a league foe for the first time in nearly two years.

Hennen finished with 18 kills, three blocks (two solo) and 18 digs.

Crystal Burk had 16 kills, 1 1/2 blocks (one solo) and 16 digs.

Smith contributed 10 kills and a block. Sierra Peterson totaled eight kills and three blocks. Payton Richardson notched with six kills and five blocks (three solo). Sydney Andrews added seven kills and 3 1/2 blocks.

Maddie Fay (31) and Mattison Munger (23) combined for 54 set assists. Fay also had a pair of service aces. Ellie Thein came up with 12 digs.

The Jackrabbits held significant advantages in kills (68-48) and blocks (17-6). The Leathernecks had 10 aces.

Shiah Sanders led a balanced WIU attack with nine kills, three aces and a block. Emma Norris added 11 kills, an ace and a block assist.

Jaime Johnson dished out 36 set assists. Claire Grove recorded 18 digs and three aces.

The Leathernecks dropped to 1-19 (0-7).

The 22-match losing streak was the fourth longest in league history – Centenary lost 54 in a row from 2007-10 and 34 consecutively between 2003-05, while SDSU had a 23-match skid from 2013-15.

SDSU’s last conference win was a 25-13, 25-23, 12-25, 22-25, 15-10 defeat of WIU on Nov. 5, 2016, at home. The teams also played a five-setter on Oct. 6, 2017, with the Leathernecks prevailing.

South Dakota State (4-16, 1-6) is host to Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday at 1 p.m.