The South Dakota State Jackrabbits ran their season-opening winning streak to eight games as they defeated Eastern Illinois and Bradley as part of the Bradley Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
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PEORIA, Ill. — The South Dakota State Jackrabbits ran their season-opening winning streak to eight games as they defeated Eastern Illinois and Bradley as part of the Bradley Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
After running the program’s best start in the Division I era to 8-0, the Jacks will host the Jackrabbit Invitational at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls next weekend. SDSU’s first game of the invite will come on Thursday against Idaho State at 7 p.m.
South Dakota State volleyball ran its unbeaten streak to seven matches Friday with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-23) win over Eastern Illinois in the first match of the Bradley Classic at Renaissance Coliseum.
SDSU tallied a season-high 10 service aces for the match, led by three from Camryn Honn plus two apiece from Rylee Martin, Sylvie Zgonc and Joslyn Richardson and one more from Rachel Wieber.
Zgonc tallied 15 kills and 13 digs, both team highs, for her fifth double-double of the season. Alyssa Groves and Sydni Schetnan added seven kills each, followed by six for Madison Burr. Burr hit .417 in the contest and took part in six blocks (four assists, two solo).
Alia Schlimgen contributed a season-high 12 digs. Honn and Martin split the setter duties and dished 16 assists each.
The Jackrabbits registered a .264 hitting percentage and held the Panthers to .161. SDSU had the edge in every statistical category, including a 42-33 advantage in kills and 8-5 edge in blocks.
EIU was led by Destiny Walker’s six kills.
SDSU hit .464 in the opening set with 15 kills, five of which came from Zgonc. EIU took a 7-3 lead, then the Jackrabbits got two kills from Katie Van Egdom during a 5-0 run to lead 8-7. Trailing by one at 11-10, three kills from Zgonc pushed the Jacks ahead, 15-12. Honn ended the set with three aces during a 6-0 run.
Aces from Martin and Zgonc helped the Jacks to a 4-2 lead to start set two. Burr took part in back-to-back blocks for the 8-5 advantage. SDSU put together an eight-point run to go up 16-6. Four different players notch a kill during the run and Wieber capped it with an ace. Groves had a pair of kills for the 20th and 21st SDSU points that made it 21-11. Zgonc tallied her 10th kill of the match to win the set.
The Jacks got off to a slow start in the third but rebounded to secure the sweep. A 3-0 stretch put the Panthers up 10-5. SDSU worked back within two at 12-10, then gave up three straight to trail by five, 15-10. Two EIU attack errors and a Zgonc kill pulled the Jacks within one at 18-17. Zgonc also came up with kills to tie the set at 19 and again at 20. Two more Panther errors made it 22-20 in the Jacks’ favor. Schetnan accounted for SDSU’s final three kills to pull off the 25-23 win.
Through three weekends of non-conference action, the South Dakota State volleyball team remains unbeaten. The Jackrabbits topped Bradley 3-1 (25-15, 25-14, 23-25, 25-21) Saturday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum to improve to 8-0 on the year.
The Jackrabbit defense held the Braves to just .052 hitting with 31 attack errors on 13 total blocks. Sydni Schetnan paced the Jackrabbits with 10 total blocks, including a program-record seven solo rejections.
Schetnan also had 12 kills on 21 errorless swings for a .571 attack rate. She tallied a season-high five digs.
Sylvie Zgonc surpassed 500-career kills Saturday on her way to 15 kills for the match. She is averaging 4.55 kills per set through eight contests in her sophomore season.
Madison Burr added eight kills, four digs, three blocks and a pair of service aces. Rylee Martin dished 23 assists and notched three aces while Camryn Honn added 14 assists. Joslyn Richardson posted a match-high 17 digs.
Silan Demerol had a double-double for Bradley with 15 kills and 11 digs. Bradley falls to 2-6 on the season.
After trading points to get the set started, SDSU took the lead for good on an Alyssa Groves kill to make it 10-9. A Schetnan kill and Bradley error extended the lead to 12-9. Up 14-11, Richardson notched an ace to cap a 3-0 run. Zgonc had four kills during a 7-1 Jackrabbit run for the 24-14 lead. Honn finished set one with a setter dump.
Martin put down three ace serves and a kill during a 10-1 start to the second set. Bradley worked its way back to within five at 15-10, then the Jacks scored six straight. The Braves had four attack errors in that stretch. Another Bradley attack error to end the set put the Jacks up 2-0 for the match.
Bradley jumped out to a 9-2 led in the third set. The Jackrabbits came all the way back to within two late in the set but the Braves hung on to force a fourth.
Three straight Bradley errors, one including a block from Schetnan, gave the Jacks a 3-0 lead. Burr tallied an ace that made it 11-8 for the Jacks. Schetnan had two kills and a block during a five-point stretch for the 16-10 lead, then another kill and block to make it 18-11. Bradley made it 18-16 with a 5-0 run. SDSU held off the Brave down the stretch and got the final kill from Zgonc.
