JACKRABBITS SWEEP EASTERN ILLINOIS

Friday, September 13

Peoria, Ill.

12:00 PM

South Dakota State University

7-0,0-0Summit League

Eastern Illinois

3-2,0-0OVC

South Dakota St.

Eastern Ill.

Photo by: Evan Patzwald

9/13/2024 7:16:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PEORIA, Ill. - South Dakota State volleyball ran its unbeaten streak to seven matches Friday with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-23) win over Eastern Illinois in the first match of the Bradley Classic at Renaissance Coliseum.

The Jackrabbits' 7-0 mark is the best record to start a season in the program's Division I era. Eastern Illinois, an NCAA Tournament team in 2023, moves to 3-2 on the year.

SDSU tallied a season-high 10 service aces for the match, led by three from Camryn Honn plus two apiece from Rylee Martin, Sylvie Zgonc and Joslyn Richardson and one more from Rachel Wieber.

Zgonc tallied 15 kills and 13 digs, both team highs, for her fifth double-double of the season. Alyssa Groves and Sydni Schetnan added seven kills each, followed by six for Madison Burr. Burr hit .417 in the contest and took part in six blocks (four assists, two solo).

Alia Schlimgen contributed a season-high 12 digs. Honn and Martin split the setter duties and dished 16 assists each.

The Jackrabbits registered a .264 hitting percentage and held the Panthers to .161. SDSU had the edge in every statistical category, including a 42-33 advantage in kills and 8-5 edge in blocks.

EIU was led by Destiny Walker's six kills.

Set one: SDSU hit .464 in the opening set with 15 kills, five of which came from Zgonc. EIU took a 7-3 lead, then the Jackrabbits got two kills from Katie Van Egdom during a 5-0 run to lead 8-7. Trailing by one at 11-10, three kills from Zgonc pushed the Jacks ahead, 15-12. Honn ended the set with three aces during a 6-0 run.

Set two: Aces from Martin and Zgonc helped the Jacks to a 4-2 lead to start set two. Burr took part in back-to-back blocks for the 8-5 advantage. SDSU put together an eight-point run to go up 16-6. Four different players notch a kill during the run and Wieber capped it with an ace. Groves had a pair of kills for the 20th and 21st SDSU points that made it 21-11. Zgonc tallied her 10th kill of the match to win the set.

Set three: The Jacks got off to a slow start in the third but rebounded to secure the sweep. A 3-0 stretch put the Panthers up 10-5. SDSU worked back within two at 12-10, then gave up three straight to trail by five, 15-10. Two EIU attack errors and a Zgonc kill pulled the Jacks within one at 18-17. Zgonc also came up with kills to tie the set at 19 and again at 20. Two more Panther errors made it 22-20 in the Jacks' favor. Schetnan accounted for SDSU's final three kills to pull off the 25-23 win.

NOTES
SDSU's 7-0 straight is the most wins without a loss to start a season since the Jackrabbits started 9-0 in 2002.

UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits take on Bradley Saturday at noon. The match will be livestreamed on ESPN+

-GoJacks.com-