Rabbits get by Rutgers for first win

Saturday, August 29

Laramie, Wy.

5 p.m. MT

South Dakota State University

Rutgers (N.J.)

Jacks start first winning streak of the season

8/29/2009 10:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: SDSU Sports Info

Kelli Fiegen continued her hot streak on Saturday against Rutgers, a night after setting a career-high with 19 kills, she led the Jackrabbits again, but this time with a much better outcome for the team.

South Dakota State picked up its first win of the season on Saturday evening with a 3-2 over the Scarlet Knights in the Jacks final match of the Cowgirl Classic in Laramie Wy.

The Jackrabbits improved their record to 1-2 by the set scores of 28-26, 17-25, 25-21, 17-25 and 15-12. Rutgers falls to 0-3 with the loss.

Fiegen tallied a career-high 19 kills in a loss to host Wyoming on Friday, and then added 18 more on Saturday to go along with her team-high block assists and one solo block.

The sophomore from Parkston recorded 50 kills over the weekend in 100 attempts with just 17 errors for a weekend hitting percentage of .330, and made the all-tournament team for her efforts.

Junior Ashley Kathol bounced back from her struggles in the first two matches to tie a career-high with 11 kills in the win.

Junior transfer Thyele Rechatiko, who sat out the first two matches of the season due to injury, played in three of the five sets, and finished with 16 set assists in her first action as a Jackrabbit. Nicole Peters led the way for the Jackrabbits though, with 26 set assists.

Stacey Wernert led the Jackrabbit defense with 21 digs in the win.

Kylie Orr recorded 17 kills to lead four Scarlet Knights with double-digit kills.

The Jackrabbits return to action next week at the Green Bay Classic, hosted by Wisconsin-Green Bay, with matches against Iowa, Central Michigan and the host Phoenix on the slate.