JACKRABBITS SPLIT ON OPENING DAY

Friday, August 27

Denton, Texas

1 p.m.

South Dakota State University

1-0,0-0Summit League

Grambling State

0-1,0-0SWAC

South Dakota St.

Grambling

Photo by: SDSU Sports Information

8/27/2021 9:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

DENTON, Texas – South Dakota State opened the 2021 college volleyball season Friday by splitting a pair of matches at the North Texas Invite. The Jackrabbits began the day with a three-set sweep of Grambling State before falling to host North Texas in four sets in evening action.

MATCH 1: SDSU 3, Grambling 0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-15)
South Dakota State made quick work of Grambling State in the afternoon session, securing the sweep in an hour and three minutes. Crystal Burk paced the Jacks with a match-high 10 kills, while setter Carly Wedel tallied 24 assists and four kills.

As a squad, SDSU hit .346 and held Grambling State to a .024 hitting percentage. Tatum Pickar led the defensive efforts with a match-high 13 digs while Chloe Stitt added seven digs to go along with six kills. The Jacks totaled nine aces in the match, led by three from Jadyn Makovicka.

SDSU got out to a hot start in the opening set, racing out to a 7-2 lead after Makovicka's first ace. The Jacks pushed their lead to 12-2 and eventually 16-4 after a bad set by Grambling. The Tigers didn't go away, however, cutting their deficit down to eight at 18-10. SDSU would finish strong, sealing a dominant set-one victory, 25-12. Burk led the Jacks with four kills on .500 hitting in the opening stanza.

SDSU trailed 6-2 early in the second set, but used an 11-0 run to storm back and retake the lead. A kill from Wedel followed by back-to-back Tiger attack errors, pushed the SDSU lead to 12 at 19-7. The Jacks would allow only two Tiger points the remainder of the set, to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-9 set-two victory.

The Jacks were eying a sweep as they rushed out to a 6-0 advantage to begin the third set. Back-to-back kills from Burk maintained a six-point Jackrabbit lead at 9-3. Grambling State would claw back to within two at 12-10, but three kills from Stitt helped SDSU back to a 16-12 lead. The Jacks would go on to seal the sweep with a convincing 25-15 set-three win.

MATCH 2: North Texas 3, SDSU 1 (22-25, 25-21, 17-25, 17-25)
After splitting the first two sets, North Texas dominated the next two to down the Jackrabbits.

Neither team held more than a three-point lead and the opening set was tied 10 times before North Texas broke a 20-all deadlock with three consecutive points to build a cushion it maintained for a 25-22 first-set victory.

The Jackrabbits turned the tables in the second set despite trailing 8-3 early on. Crystal Burk served four straight points as part of an 8-2 run that gave SDSU the lead and the Jackrabbits added another 8-1 spurt behind two kills and a pair of service aces by Burk down the stretch en route to a 25-21 win.

North Texas got its offense in gear in the final two sets, hitting a combined .373 to close out the match. Rhett Robinson tallied a match-high 20 kills for the Mean Green, with Kenzie Smith adding 12 kills. Kaliegh Skopal dished out 36 assists and added eight digs.

Burk led three Jackrabbits in double figures for kills with 15 and completed a double-double with 10 digs, followed by freshman Ella Thompson with 12 kills and a .409 hitting percentage. Chloe Stitt contributed 11 kills with Carly Wedel notching 32 assists.

Tatum Pickar tallied a match-high 14 digs.

NOTES

This marked the first-ever meeting between SDSU and Grambling State in volleyball.
The Jackrabbits and North Texas have each won one match in the series first played in 2007.
Nort
SDSU's one hour and three minute match is the quickest since the Jacks played a one-hour and two-minute match in 2017.
The Jacks picked up a season-opening victory for the first time since 2017 (vs. Milwaukee).
Burk led all players with 10 kills in the day's first match and extended her streak of matches with double figures in kills to 13 going back to the 2020-21 campaign in the second match of the day.
Pickar has recorded double figures for digs in 12 consecutive matches dating back to last season and in 43 of 47 career matches with the Jackrabbits.
North Texas is coached by former SDSU mentor Andrew Palileo.

UP NEXT
SDSU closes out the North Texas Invite against McNeese State Saturday at 11 a.m.

-GoJacks.com-