Volleyball topped by Valparaiso and Milwaukee

Friday, September 20

Brookings, S.D.

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

3-7

Valparaiso

5-7

Valparaiso

South Dakota St.

Photo by: SDSU Sports Information

9/20/2019 11:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

The South Dakota State volleyball team fell to Valparaiso, 3-0 (20-25, 22-25, 13-25) and dropped a five-set thriller to Milwaukee, 3-2 (25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 21-25, 10-15), on Friday as it hosted the Comfort Suites University Jackrabbit Invitational at Frost Arena.

The Jackrabbits fell to 3-8, while Valparaiso and Milwaukee improved to 5-7 and 11-1, respectively.

South Dakota State 0, Valparaiso 3
Makenzie Hennen led the way for the Jacks as she recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs. Ashlynn Smith added eight kills, three blocks and a service ace. Carly Wedel dished out 25 assists and posted three blocks. Tori Thompson led the defense at the net with six blocks, while Tatum Pickar defended the back row with a team-best 14 digs.

Valparaiso held a 13-8 advantage in the first set, but a 10-5 run by the Jacks tied the set up at 18-18. The Crusaders recorded seven of the final nine points to take the first set, 25-20.

State trailed for the beginning of set two, as Valpo led 13-10. A big swing from Smith paired with four Crusader errors, gave the Jacks a 15-13 edge. However, Valparaiso responded with six unanswered points of its own en route to a 25-22 win in the second set.

SDSU held on in the third set, only trailing 13-11. Valparaiso pulled away with 10 consecutive points to increase its lead to 23-11. The deficit was too much for the Jacks to bounce back from as the Crusaders won the match with a 25-13 third set victory.

South Dakota State 2, Milwaukee 3
Hennen not only led the Jacks in the second match of the day but she tied her career-high of 24 kills. Burk and Smith added 15 and 10 kills, each. Wedel recorded a career-best 51 assists. Burk and Pickar tied for a team best of 17 digs, each. At the net, Burk, Thompson and Nerad each registered three blocks.

In the match, SDSU hit .276 compared to Milwaukee at .270. The Jacks also out-blocked the Panthers, 9-3.

The Jacks opened the match with a 6-1 run as Burk and Smith each had a pair of kills while Hennen added one. Milwaukee came back to tie the set at 10-all. The Jacks held a 24-22 edge at the set point as a Panther service error sealed a 25-22 win in the opening set.

Milwaukee held a 14-12 lead in set two, when a 5-0 run highlighted by kills from Burk, Thompson and Smith set the Jacks ahead, 17-14. SDSU only continued to build on its lead from there as back-to-back kills by Hennen set the Jacks ahead, 2-0, on the match with a 25-18 second set victory.

The two teams traded points to start the third set, but four unanswered points gave Milwaukee a 17-10 lead. South Dakota State chipped away at the deficit with several short runs but wouldn't come closer than three points for the remainder of the set. Milwaukee won its first set of the match by a score of 25-21 in the third.

Kills from Hennen, Pickar, Smith, Burk and Wedel gave the Jacks 7-6 edge early into the fourth set. However, a 10-2 run set the Panthers ahead 16-9. The Jacks held on for the remainder of the set as big swings from Hennen and Burk cut the deficit to 23-21. Back-to-back kills gave Milwaukee a 25-21 fourth set win to force a fifth set.

The Jackrabbits certainly held their own in the final set, but unfortunately never saw a lead as Milwaukee won the five-set match with a 15-10 victory in the tiebreak set.

"I know we got the loss tonight (against Milwaukee), but it was a really good turnaround from the from earlier in the afternoon," said head coach Nicole Cirillo. "Overall, I'm happy with the performance and statistically we did some really good things. It just comes down to some untimely, unfortunate errors."

Game Notes

Makenzie Hennen tied her career-best of 24 kills against Milwaukee.
Carly Wedel recorded a career high of 51 assists.
South Dakota State is now 2-5 all-time against Valparaiso and 1-1 against Milwaukee

Up Next
The Jackrabbits close out nonconference play with their final match of the Comfort Suites University Jackrabbit Invitational against Kansas City on Saturday at noon.

-GoJacks.com-