Completed Event: Women's Volleyball versus Arizona on December 5, 2025 , Loss , 1, to, 3
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FINAL
Women's Volleyball
1
vs Arizona
3
South Dakota State University Athletics
Friday, September 25
Frost Arena
7:00 PM
South Dakota State University
vs
Omaha
Jacks Open Summit League Season
9/23/2015 9:19:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BROOKINGS, S.D.—Coming off a 12-match road swing, the South Dakota State volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of Frost Arena and opens its ninth season in The Summit League against Omaha Friday at 7 p.m. and Oral Roberts Saturday at 8 p.m.
The Jackrabbits (1-15) are happy to return home after losing 14 of 15 on the trip, including a pair of matches to then-No. 7 Illinois and to then-No. 17 Kansas.
This past weekend, SDSU lost all four matches in the Jayhawk Classic, falling to UMKC, the Jayhawks, Missouri State and Gonzaga.
Omaha (5-8) begins its conference season on a losing note after going 1-2 in the Michigan Chippewa Challenge. The Mavericks beat Evansville in five sets, but lost to San Jose State (3-1) and host Central Michigan (3-0).
Oral Roberts (6-7) snapped a four-match losing streak this past weekend, defeating Houston Baptist (3-1) but losing to North Texas (3-1).
Following Along
- There will be live video and stats for the Omaha match and live stats for the Oral Robert match on GoJacks.com.
- Fans of Jackrabbit Extra on GoJacks.com can watch all South Dakota State home matches and select road matches streaming live on the Internet.
Link Up with the Jackrabbits
- For an inside look at the South Dakota State volleyball program and to access exclusive coverage, "like" SDSU Jackrabbit Volleyball on Facebook and follow @GoJacksSDSU on Twitter. Follow the team's live Twitter feed @GoJacksVB for frequent in-match tweets, statistics and more.
Setting the Scene
- South Dakota State will be looking to end its 11-match losing streak when it opens league play this weekend. The last time the Jackrabbits lost more than 11 consecutive matches was when they finished the 2014 season with 15 consecutive losses.
- The Jackrabbits are 5-2 in league openers and are 3-1 in home league openers. SDSU has faced Omaha once before in a Summit League opener. SDSU beat the Mavericks, 3-0, in Omaha Sept. 14, 2012.
- SDSU sports a 337-166 all-time home record and is 35-28 in home Summit League matches since 2007. The last time the Jackrabbits won a home conference match was Nov. 9, 2013, when they beat Western Illinois, 3-2, in the final home match of the season.
- Omaha leads the series with the Jackrabbits, 30-20. The last SDSU home win over the Mavericks was Nov. 8, 2013. It downed UNO, 3-1. SDSU has a two-match losing streak vs. the Mavericks.
- Oral Roberts also leads its all-time series vs. South Dakota State, 8-4. The last win for the Jacks in Frost vs. the Golden Eagles was Nov. 11, 2010, when they won in five sets. SDSU has a two-match losing streak vs. ORU.
A Quick Glance at South Dakota State (1-15)
- SDSU has settled into a starting lineup that has seniors Wagner Larson and Kacey Herrmann in the middle, junior Nazya Thies and sophomore Mikala Hora on the outside, sophomore Ashley Beaner on the right side, freshman Matttison Munger setting and senior Lizzie Palmer as the libero.
- Seniors Carley Gerving and Alana Pengilly and freshman Ellie Benson are the first subs for the Jacks.
- The Jackrabbits are hitting .087 and averaging 8.04 kills per set. Beaner leads the Jackrabbits in kills (104) while Larson has a team-leading .245 hitting percentage.
- Munger is South Dakota State's primary setter, but junior Brooke Leetham has come into matches to relieve Munger. The rookie is averaging 6.12 set assists while the team averages 7.62.
- Defensive specialist Ellie Benson has been an effective server for the Jacks. She ranks 14th in The Summit League, averaging 0.22 service aces per set.
- Palmer leads the defensive corps with a 3.44 digs per set average. Hora is second with a 2.45 average.
- The Jackrabbits are holding their own in blocking (62.0, 1.17 bps). Herrmann leads the team with 30 total blocks and has a team-best five solo blocks.
Omaha (5-8)
- Omaha enters Friday's match having won twice in its last five outings. It beat Bradley in the UMKC Kangaroo Klassic Sept. 11 and downed Evansville this past weekend.
- The Mavericks are hitting .179 as a team with their offensive attack coming from senior Kelley Wollak. The outside hitter leads the squad in kills per set (3.31).
- Omaha has two players hitting higher than .200 with senior middle blocker Megan Schmale leading the way with a .329 hitting percentage.
- Sophomore Sydney O'Shaughnessy runs the Mavericks offense, averaging 9.58 set assists per match. She also tops the team with 16 service aces.
- Omaha is dominating its competition when it comes to blocks. The have 107.5 total blocks this season, including 18 solo blocks. Schmale leads the team and is second in The Summit League with a 1.25 blocks per set average. The Mavericks also has four other players with 20-or-more total blocks.
Oral Roberts (6-7)
- Oral Roberts enters league play having won once in the last five outings.
- The Golden Eagles are hitting .223 with four players hitting .200-or-higher. Sophomore outside hitter Laura Milos leads the squad and The Summit League, averaging 4.85 kills per set and is hitting .229.
- Oral Roberts' sophomore middle blocker Shelby Cox tops the team with a .350 hitting percentage and averages 2.51 kills per set.
- Sophomore setter Lucija Bojanjac runs the Golden Eagles' offense and averages a Summit League-best 10.80 set assists.
- Oral Roberts has 80 total blocks this season—32 of which belong to Cox.
Last Outing
- Sept. 21, 2015—Gonzaga 3, SDSU 0
LAWRENCE, Kan.—In the final match of the Jayhawk Classic for the South Dakota State volleyball team, the Jackrabbits lost 25-20, 25-14 and 25-12 to Gonzaga.
Nazya Thies led SDSU with five kills and three block assists while Mikala Hora added five kills, eight digs and a pair of block assists. Lizzie Palmer had a match-high 12 digs.
Savannah Blinn led Gonzaga with 12 kills and hit .308. Morgan Douglass collected 11 digs.
In the first set, Gonzaga raced to an 8-2 lead before SDSU slowly took advantage of errors and got a pair of Beaner kills to pull within 19-15. A kill by Kacey Herrmann made it 22-19, but a Jackrabbit service error and a pair of Bulldog kills gave Gonzaga the win.
The Jackrabbits fell behind early, 13-4, in the second set. They fought to cut the lead to 14-8 with kills from Herrman, Hora and Wagner Larson and a pair of Gonzaga errors. The Bulldogs then used an 11-6 run for the win.
SDSU took a quick 4-2 lead in the third set, but Gonzaga tied the set at 6-6. The Jacks fought back to take a 9-6 lead on a Gonzaga attack error, block from Larson and Thies and a Larson kill. Gonzaga then put together a 10-1 run to take a 16-10 lead. The Jackrabbits scored just two more points in the loss.
Milestones
- Lizzie Palmer and Alana Pengilly could record 1,000 career digs this season. Palmer stands at 890 while Pengilly has 803.
- Kacey Herrmann has 669 digs and needs 31 for 700 career digs.
- Ashley Beaner is closing in on 300 career kills. The rightside hitter enters the weekend with 296 kills.
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