Volleyball at Omaha, Home vs. WIU

Friday, November 4

Omaha, Neb.

7 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Omaha

Photo by: Inertia Sports Media/Dave Eggen

11/2/2016 9:40:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

SDSU Match Notes

            The South Dakota State volleyball team still has a shot at playing in The Summit League Championship when it plays at Omaha Friday at 7 p.m. and hosts Western Illinois Saturday at 7 p.m. in its final home game of the regular season.

            With the top six teams advancing to the league championship, the Jackrabbits (4-20, 3-9) are currently seventh in the league needs. They need wins over the Mavericks and the Leathernecks this weekend and in their final two matches. Oral Roberts, which is sixth, would also needs to lose three of their final four matches.

            Saturday is Senior Night as six seniors—Megan Farnham, Brooke Leetham, Nazya Thies, Ashley Beaner, Mikala Hora and Garet Miliner—play their final regular-season match.

            Omaha (2-10, 5-21) lost both its road matches this past weekend, falling 3-0 to South Dakota and 3-0 to North Dakota State. The Mavericks are eighth in The Summit League standings.

            Western Illinois (1-12, 4-25) is ninth in the league standings. The Leathernecks also lost 3-0 to Oral Roberts Tuesday.

Following Along

Live stats are available for the Omaha match and live stats and video for the Western Illinois match are on GoJacks.com.
Jackrabbit All-Acess members on GoJacks.com can watch all South Dakota State home matches streaming live on the internet.

Setting the Scene

South Dakota State had an upset victory over Fort Wayne Oct. 30, winning 3-1 in its Dig Pink match at the Sanford Pentagon. The win ended a three-match losing streak and the Jacks are now .500 (2-2) in five-set matches.
The Jackrabbits are 24-52 in Summit League road matches since 2007. The Jacks ended a road-losing streak with a win at Western Illinois Oct. 16.
South Dakota State is 42-39 at home in Summit League matches since 2007. Its last home league win was a 3-1 upset of Fort Wayne Oct. 30.
The Jacks are 2-7 overall and 1-7 in The Summit League on the road this year and 2-7 overall and 2-5 in league games in Frost Arena this season.
SDSU can sweep a pair of series this weekend. It defeated Omaha in three sets Sept. 30 in Frost Arena. It took five sets to win at Western Illinois Oct. 16.
The Jackrabbits and Omaha meet for the 54th time with the Mavericks leading the all-time series, 32-21. The Jacks snapped a five-match losing streak vs. Omaha earlier this year. The last time SDSU won at Omaha was Oct. 13, 2013, with a 3-1 victory.
South Dakota State leads the all-time series with Western Illinois, 15-5. They won a five-set match earlier this month in Macomb.

A Quick Glance at South Dakota State (4-20, 3-9)

Second-year head coach Nicole Cirillo's probable starters are seniors Nazya Thies and Ashley Beaner and freshman Makenzie Hennen on the outside; sophomore Sierra Peterson and freshman Ashlynn Smith in the middle; sophomore Mattison Munger setting and junior Ellie Benson as libero.
The Jackrabbits are hitting .144 and averaging 11.02 kills per set. Beaner leads the Jackrabbits in kills (303) and kills per set (3.61). Smith has a team-leading .222 hitting percentage.
Munger is SDSU's primary setter, averaging 8.91 set assists while the team averages 10.58.
Thies tops the team in service aces with 19.
Benson leads the defensive corps with a 4.42 digs per set average. Munger is second with a 2.55 average.
The Jackrabbits are holding their own in blocking (114, 1.36 bps). Hennen leads the team with 48 total blocks.

Omaha (2-10, 5-21)

Omaha enters the weekend on a four-match losing streak and is 1-5 in home Summit League matches.
The Mavericks are hitting .142 as a team with their offensive attack coming from junior Mackenzie Horkey. The outside attacker leads the squad in kills per set (3.35) and averages 3.55 digs per set.
Horkey also leads UNO with a .249 hitting percentage.
Junior setter Sydney O'Shaughnessy runs Omaha's offense, averaging 8.88 set assists. She also averages 2.58 digs per set.
Defensively, freshman libero Ashley Smith is recording a team-best 3.87 digs per set and the Mavericks average 16.15 digs per set with six players with 2.0-or-more digs per set.
Series vs. Omaha—Omaha leads 32-21.

Western Illinois (1-12, 4-25)

Western Illinois enters the weekend looking for its second league win of the season after dropping the last 10 matches. Its only win was at Omaha Sept. 27.
The Fighting Leathernecks are hitting .098 as a team with their offensive attack coming from junior Shalyn Greenhaw. The outside hitter leads the squad in kills per set (3.32) and averages 2.44 digs per set.
Sophomore middle hitter Lexi Kolschefski leads Western Illinois with a .234 hitting percentage and 0.60 blocks per set.
Sophomore setter Abby Skryd runs the Fighting Leathernecks' offense, averaging 7.13 set assists.
Senior libero Kaili Simmons is recording a team-best 5.06 digs per set. Western Illinois averages 15.91 digs per set with three players with 2.0-or-more digs per set.
Series vs. Western Illinois—SDSU leads 15-5.

For more information on the South Dakota State volleyball team, follow the Jackrabbits on Twitter (@GoJacksVB) or like South Dakota State Volleyball on Facebook.

-GoJacks.com-