SDSU FALLS IN LEAGUE TITLE GAME

Tuesday, November 26

Kansas City, Mo.

7:00 PM

South Dakota State University

27-2,15-1Summit League

No. 3 South Dakota

21-9,10-6Summit League

South Dakota

South Dakota St.

Photo by: Miranda Sampson/SampsonSnapshots

11/26/2024 11:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - South Dakota State volleyball was bested in five sets by South Dakota Tuesday night in the championship match of the Summit League Tournament.

The Jackrabbits won the first and fourth sets and dropped sets two, three and five. Set scores went 25-20, 18-25, 19-25, 25-16, 10-15.

SDSU was paced by 19 kills from Sylvie Zgonc, who also tallied seven digs in the match. Alyssa Groves posed 10 kills at a .320 clip and totaled eight block assists and seven digs, while Sydni Schetnan contributed nine kills, eight blocks and three digs. Groves and Schetnan were named to the Summit League all-tournament team.

Madison Burr followed with nine kills, four blocks and three digs. Joslyn Richardson, typically the SDSU libero but filling in as an outside hitter, recorded seven kills and 11 digs.

Rachel Wieber handled the libero duties Tuesday and recorded 22 digs and dished seven assists. Setters Rylee Martin and Camryn Honn notched 22 assists apiece and combined for 32 digs for the Jackrabbits.

Tournament MVP Kylen Sealock led all players with 23 kills. Cheyenne Hlady added 18 kills and Lauren Medeck added 13.

Set one: In the opening set, SDSU trailed 15-13 but ran off four straight points with Freshman of the Year Madison Burr capping that run with back-to-back kills. That would be the fifth and final lead change of the opener. Neither team led by more than two in that opening set until Sydni Schetnan delivered the team's sixth block to put the Jacks ahead 21-18. From there, the Jackrabbits cruised to a five-point set victory. Schetnan had a solo block and four block assists to help limit the Coyotes to a .102 hitting percentage.

Set two: In the second set, it was back-and-forth early before USD posted a 5-0 run to take an 11-7 lead, which was the Coyotes' largest through the opening two stanzas. The Jackrabbits did not let USD pull away, however, as they clawed back to within a point at 16-15. From there, it was all Cheyenne Hlady and Amanda Loschen for the Coyotes. Those two combined for six kills in a 9-3 set-closing run.

Set three: The third set was a tight one until midway through when South Dakota reeled off six straight points to build a 17-10 advantage. Sealock had three kills during that spurt to give the Coyotes control. It got a little shaky towards the end of the set but after the Jacks pulled within two at 21-19, USD scored the final four points on a block, two services aces from Medeck and a set-closing kill from Hlady.

Set four: SDSU regrouped to open the fourth set, racing out to a 12-3 lead as Joslyn Richardson started things with back-to-back kills. Richardson had only two kills in the first three sets but racked up four in the pivotal fourth that saw the Jacks force a decisive fifth set.

Set five: After trailing 3-1 early in the fifth set, the Coyotes used a 6-0 run to cease the momentum. After the Jackrabbits scored back-to-back points to make it 14-10, Sealock closed out the trophy hunt as four Coyotes finished with double-digit kills.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Ali Hinze, North Dakota State
Sydney Henry, Kansas City
Molly Mirabelli, Denver
McKenna Ruch, Omaha
Alyssa Groves, South Dakota State
Sydni Schetnan, South Dakota State
Kylen Sealock South Dakota (MVP)
Kamryn Farris, South Dakota
Avery Van Hook, South Dakota

NOTES

South Dakota has now won the postseason tournament in five of the last seven seasons, including three straight from 2020-22.
South Dakota State won both regular season matchups with the Coyotes, including a victory on the final day that clinched the program's second outright regular season title.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits await their fate in the national postseason. The NCAA Selection Show is Sunday at 5 p.m. CT.

-GoJacks.com-