BROOKINGS – South Dakota State volleyball lost its first two games of the Comfort Suites University Jackrabbit Invitational.
• Valparaiso 3, South Dakota State 0
SDSU was swept in its first match of the tournament. The first two sets were close as the scores were 25-20 and 25-22. Valpo then took the third set 25-13.
Makenzie Hennen led the way for SDSU with double-double. The senior had 12 kills and 11 digs. Ashlynn Smith had eight kills and Crystal Burk had five. The Jacks had 32 kills as a team. Valpo had 41.
Valpo had nine aces while the Jacks had just one. Carly Wedel had a team-high 25 assists for SDSU and Tori Thompson led the team in blocks with six. Smith and Wedel had three blocks as well. Tatum Pickar led the Jacks with 14 digs and Burk had five.
Jillie Grant and Peyton McCarthy led Valpo with 10 kills each. Ally Cummings added eight kills. Brittany Anderson had 30 assists. Bella Ravotto had 11 digs and Rylee Cookerly had 10.
• Milwaukee 3, South Dakota State 2
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Jackrabbits lost the final three sets of the match.
The Jacks jumped out to a 9-4 lead and won the first set 25-22. They then used that momentum to win the second set 25-18. Milwaukee took the third set 25-21 and won a back and forth fourth set 25-21.
SDSU head coach Nicole Cirillo said the biggest difference between the sets the Jacks won and lost was that they didn’t get so far behind.
“We had that problem this morning as well. We’d get behind and then we fight so hard to get back ahead, but it’s just so hard to keep that momentum against teams of this quality. That was the diffence. We managed the game much better in the sets that we won,” Cirillo said.
Milwaukee then took the fifth and final set 15-10. The Panthers finished the set on a 4-0 run.
“In set five we did the same thing. We didn’t make the errors, [Milwaukee] earned them. But we still have to find ways to stop it sooner in order to have a chance,” Cirillo said.
Hennen led the Jacks once again with 24 kills, nine assists and seven digs. Cirillo said Hennen has too much of the team on her shoulders right now.
“She’s awesome,” Cirillo said. “She continues to come up in big situations and carries so much on her shoulders. Which I’m trying to take off of them. Again with a young team, we do have to rely on her.”
Boyd had 15 kills and nine assists for SDSU. Smith had 11 kills and Pickar had 15 assists for the Jacks. SDSU had nine total blocks. Burk led the way with three and Anna Nerad and Sydney Andrews each had two. Burk and Thompson each had 17 digs.
Cirillo said the difference between the first game of the tournament and the second game of the tournament was the team and fans energy.
“I know we got the loss tonight, but it was a really good turn around from earlier this afternoon to tonight … I think the fans helped tonight. We had a decent turnout in the afternoon, but it was a school day and some parents weren’t here yet. So for us, that was huge. Our consistency kept everyone engaged,” Cirilo said.
SDSU takes on Kansas City today at 12 p.m. Cirillo said she hopes the team in the second game shows up, rather than the first game.
“I know that this one hurts. It’s everyone. In the stands, me, the girls, but overall we played very well so there’s not a lot to be upset about. I hope that they take that feeling and they kind of could’ve, should’ve, would’ve and take that mentality and find a new found confidence. We have not played a match like that in 2 ½ weeks, so I think this will help with our confidence,” Cirillo said.
