JACKS FALL IN TITLE MATCH

Tuesday, November 25

Brookings, S.D.

6:00 p.m.

South Dakota State University

23-4,16-0Summit League

No. 3 St. Thomas

21-9,11-5Summit League

St. Thomas (MN)

South Dakota St.

Photo by: Riley Edds

11/25/2025 10:37:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BROOKINGS, S.D. - The No. 1 South Dakota State volleyball team fell in four sets to third-seeded St. Thomas Tuesday night in the Summit League championship match at First Bank & Trust Arena.

Set scores went 25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 25-23. The Jackrabbits 17-match win streak comes to an end as they move to 23-4 on the season. St. Thomas improves to 21-19 overall.

Sylvie Zgonc and Madison Burr, both named to the all-tournament team, paced the Jackrabbits with 19 and 14 kills, respectively. Burr also posted seven block assists to lead all players and hit .393 for the match. Hannah Klein added 10 kills. Rylee Martin dished 38 assists and Joslyn Richardson led the Jacks with 21 digs.

St. Thomas' Tezra Rudzitis put down a match-high 22 kills on the rightside.

Set one: St. Thomas opened up a 6-1 lead in the first set and maintained that lead throughout the opener. The Jacks came within a point at 11-0, but a quick 5-1 response from the Tommies stretched their lead again. A late 6-0 UST run won the set for the Tommies.

Set two: SDSU responded to win the second set. It was back-and-forth early until - tied at 10-all - the Jackrabbits ripped off an eight-point run that included four kills from Zgonc. The sides again traded points through the end of the set, and Zgonc finished it off with a kill.

Set three: St. Thomas built at 10-5 advantage in the third set that included a five-point run, and went on to lead 15-8. The Jacks roared back to within one at 20-19 with a balanced effort that included two blocks and a kill from Burr and a pair of kills plus a block from Zgonc. Following a Tommie timeout, UST finished the set off with five of the next seven points and got three straight kills from Rudzitis to win it.

Set four: After the Tommies opened up a 5-2 advantage early in the fourth, SDSU worked back to tie things up at eight and again at 10. A 3-0 UST spurt gave the Tommies a cushion, but the Jacks again battled back, tying the set four more times before finally taking their first lead at 21-20. St. Thomas scored the next four to go up 24-21. Consecutive UST attack errors brought home team within one before St. Thomas clinched the match with a kill.

NOTES

The crowd of 1,632 was the largest for a title match since 2009 and the 3,968 total attendance broke an all-time tournament record.
The Tommies, in their first year eligible for the Summit League Championship and NCAA postseason following a jump from Division III, won three matches in three days to secure the Summit League's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT
South Dakota State will hope to hear its name called during the 2025 NCAA Division I Volleyball Selection Show, which airs at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday, November 30 on ESPN.

-GoJacks.com-