JACKRABBITS START HOME STRETCH WITH WESTERN ILLINOIS

Thursday, October 7

Brookings, S.D.

7 p.m. CT

South Dakota State University

Western Illinois

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

10/6/2021 5:57:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

MATCH 15: South Dakota State (9-6, 1-3) vs. Western Illinois (3-13, 2-3)

When	Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.
Where	Brookings, S.D. \| Frost Arena
TV	GoJacks.com/Watch
Live Stats	GoJacksLive.com
Week 5 Game Notes	South Dakota State \| Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Facebook

South Dakota State women's volleyball will kick off a three-match home stretch with Western Illinois Thursday night at Frost Arena.

SERIES HISTORY

SDSU and WIU have met 29 times since the start of the series in 2007. SDSU is 19-10 all-time against the Leathernecks and an even 5-5 in the last 10 meetings.

The teams last met to open Summit play in the 2020-21 season with the Jackrabbits sweeping both matches at Frost Arena.

Crystal Burk registered a double-double with 11 digs and a team-leading 12 kills while adding three blocks. Sydney Andrews and Akeela Jefferson tallied nine kills each. Carly Wedel dished 39 assists and added seven digs, three kills and one service ace. Tatum Picker posted 19 digs.

Mariah Mitchell paced Western Illinois with 11 kills and a .333 attack rate. She also took part in three blocks to lead her team. Jessie Connell and Cassie Hunt had 21

and 14 assists, respectively. Emma Norris notched 18 digs and Gabby DePersio added 17.

SCOUTING THE LEATHERNECKS

Western Illinois is 2-3 in Summit League action and has won its last two matches. The Leathernecks most recently beat League newcomer St. Thomas 3-0, their first sweep of the season.

Kennedy Davis averages 2.6 kills per set and holds a .323 attack percentage to lead the WIU offense. Her hitting rate ranks sixth in the League. Davis also has the most success for WIU from the service line, totaling 16 aces on the season. Peyton Bowman adds 2.28 kills per set and leads the blocking efforts with 1.0 rejections per set.

Jessie Connell and Maggie Craker share the setting duties and hand out 7.09 and 5.65 assists per set, respectively.

Erika Moore and Karli Wenzel pace the Leatherneck back row. Wenzel averages 2.96 digs per set and Moore adds 2.88.

WIU ranks second to last in the League in opponent hitting percentage, allowing a .246 opponent clip.

THE JACKRABBITS

Jackrabbit volleyball is 9-6 on the season and 1-3 in Summit League action after falling to Kansas City and Oral Roberts last week.

Crystal Burk powers the Jackrabbit offense with 216 total kills and 3.86 kills per set, which continues to lead the Summit League. Chloe Stitt averages 2.98 kills per set, the eighth best on the League list. Ella Thompson adds 1.84 kills per set and her .277 hitting percentage leads the squad.

Thompson averages an even 1.0 blocks per set (56 total), which leads the Jackrabbits and is ninth in the Summit League. Carly Wedel has added 28 blocks and Burk has 23. Wedel is fourth on the Summit assists chart with 9.85 helpers per set.

As a team, SDSU is third in the Summit in attack percentage (.242) and opponent attack percentage (.191). The Jackrabbit blockers rank fourth in the conference at 2.20 blocks per set.

The Jackrabbit defense is led by Burk and Tatum Pickar. Burk has a team-high 132 digs this season and Pickar has added 130. Pickar's 3.94 digs per set is the highest average among the SDSU squad and is sixth among the conference.

LAST TIME OUT

State dropped a five-set marathon to Oral Roberts last weekend in Tulsa, Okla. The Jacks bounced back from losing the first set to win sets two and three but dropped the next two for the loss.

SDSU had a 6-4 advantage in the final game behind two kills and a service ace from Crystal Burk. Oral Roberts came back to go up 7-6 with three-straight points but committed a service error to make it a 7-7 contest. ORU took the lead for good with an SDSU serving error on the next play and held off the Jacks from there.

Crystal Burk totaled 18 kills and 10 digs for yet another double-double this season. Chloe Stitt added 15 kills and Sydney Andrews added 13 on .458 hitting to round out the double-digit scorers. Andrews led the Jacks with four blocks. Carly Wedel had 38 assists while Jasmine Weidemann and Tatum Pickar chipped in seven apiece. Pickar matched Burk with 12 digs. Faith Saewert and Burk had two service aces each.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits will host St. Thomas Saturday night at Frost Arena.