BROOKINGS — After losing their first match of the season on Thursday, the South Dakota State volleyball team responded with a sweep of North Dakota State at First Bank & Trust Arena on Saturday afternoon.

“It was really good for our confidence [to come out and sweep NDSU],” said SDSU head coach Dan Georgalas. “That loss was kind of good for us. I’m grateful that we got picked off and we’ve been talking about what our response would be, and it was a great one today. It was good to get a sweep and get our confidence back with that. That loss reminded our group how much we hated losing.”

SDSU (23-1, 12-1) fell behind 6-2 in the first set, but then went on a 7-0 run. NDSU (10-13, 6-8) would then tie the set at 13-13 but the Jacks responded with three-straight points. The two teams traded points until the Jacks had a set point at 24-21 but NDSU scored two points in-a-row to force an SDSU timeout. The Jacks responded out of the timeout as Sydni Schetnan had a kill and gave the Jacks a 25-23 victory in the first set.

The Jacks then found their groove after that. They led 10-7 and that three-point lead held until they went on a 4-0 run to go up 21-14. SDSU eventually won the second set 25-18 and took a 2-0 lead.

SDSU flexed its muscles in the third set. The Jacks jumped out to a 10-3 lead and then extended that lead to 14-3. They then led 19-10 and scored four-straight points to push the lead to 13. That would lead to SDSU winning the set 25-14 and completing the sweep.

Georgalas said the Jacks knew NDSU would come out with some intensity and it was just about withstanding that in the first part of the first set.

“[NDSU] has a lot of weapons and is a strong and confident team. We knew they would come out strong and passionate. It’s a rivalry game and those are never easy. We felt like if we could withstand that initial push, our scouting report and execution would start to break them down. Then set by set and every period of 10 points that went on, we just kept tightening the screws and it got a little easier for us,” Georgalas said.

SDSU 42 kills as a team and 43 digs. Sylvie Zgonc led the way with 12 kills, five digs and two blocks. Schetnan had eight kills and three blocks. Madison Burr had seven kills and two blocks and Rylee Martin had 17 assists and nine digs. Joslyn Richardson had 10 digs and Camryn Honn had 13 assists. Katie Van Egdom had six kills.

Georgalas said he liked his team’s confidence throughout the match.

“There’s 22 reasons why we’re a great team, now 23. We weren’t going to let last Thursday define us. I’m glad we got picked off because I think it’s going to make us better. Truthfully, the weight of the win streak is off our back now. We’re back to where our two feet were. We have a winning streak of one and that’s awesome,” Georgalas said.

Arianna Blohm and Alexis Boling each had seven kills to lead NDSU. Maddy Dombeck had 13 assists and Eke Dennesen had 12 assists. Logan O’Brien had 22 assists.

The Jackrabbits have three matches left in the regular season. Right now they hold a two-game lead over Omaha for first place in the Summit League and hold the tiebreaker over the Mavericks. A win on Thursday against Oral Roberts in the final home match of the season would clinch at least a share of the regular season Summit League title for the Jacks.

Georgalas isn’t focused on that, though. He said in the final three matches he wants to see the Jacks play with the competitiveness that they have all season.

“I just want to see consistent competitiveness. It’s a long season and we’ve been through adversity. It’s tough to get up and have that same intensity level every single match. I thought we lacked that a little bit against St. Thomas. We’re just looking for some freaking killer attitudes these final three regular season matches, and I thought our group did a good job of showing that today,” Georgalas said.