Jacks hang on to beat Oakland, 3-2

Saturday, October 16

Rochester, Mich.

7 p.m. ET

South Dakota State University

Oakland

10/17/2010 12:23:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score at Oakland

By: SDSU Sports Info

ROCHESTER, Mich. - The South Dakota State volleyball team watched a 2-0 lead fall by the wayside, but the Jackrabbits battled back to win the fifth set on Saturday at Oakland in Summit League action.

The 3-2 win by the set scores of 27-25, 25-23, 22-25, 18-25 and 16-14 improves the Jacks record to 9-11 overall and 5-6 in The Summit League. Oakland falls to and even 11-11 on the season, 6-5 in league play.

Kelli Fiegen led the Jacks with a career-high 21 kills in the win, Ellyce Youngren added 16 kills and Kaitlin Klingemann 12 kills in the win. It took Fiegen a career-high 45 swings to set the career mark, but with just four errors on the night, she still hit .378. She also added four solo blocks and two block assists in the win.

Thyele Rechatiko recorded her team-leading 10th double-double on Saturday with 15 digs and a career-high 53 set assists. Shay Birath tied a career-high in leading the Jackrabbits with 26 kills.

Meghan Bray led all players with 22 kills in a losing effort, she also added 19 digs for one of the Golden Grizzlies two double-doubles.

With 17 ties, six lead changes and the 27-25 score in the first set, it looked like it would be a long night for both the Jackrabbits and Golden Grizzlies, and even though that did happen, the next four sets only saw a total of 12 ties three lead changes.

The Jacks jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the second set, and never looked back to take the 2-0 lead in the match, but Oakland the next two sets to force the fifth and deciding set.

SDSU went up 4-1 early in the final set and never trailed in the set, but did need to fend off several OU rallies to hang on for the win.

The Jackrabbits return home to start a three-match home stand on Tuesday against Drake, and then host IUPUI and Western Illinois over Hobo Day weekend. The Jacks and Bulldogs start at 6 p.m., while the weekend matches start at 7 p.m.