JACKS TAKE DOWN COYOTES IN 5 SETS

Saturday, November 1

Brookings, S.D.

7:00 p.m.

South Dakota State University

18-3,12-0Summit League

South Dakota

16-8,8-4Summit League

South Dakota

South Dakota St.

Photo by: Jenna Batka

11/1/2025 11:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

BROOKINGS, S.D. - South Dakota State volleyball took down in-state rival South Dakota in a five-set thriller Saturday night in front of 2.563 fans at First Bank & Trust Arena. The Jackrabbits have now won both meetings of the Interstate Series presented by First Interstate Bank this season.

Sylvie Zgonc led the charge for South Dakota State, recording a match-high 24 kills with a .327 hitting percentage. The junior also had 11 digs and four blocks (two assists, two solo). Zgonc notched seven kills on nine errorless swings in the second set alone, then had six kills in set three.

The Jackrabbit block showed up in a big way, especially in the final set. SDSU tallied 16 blocks as a team for the match, seven of which came in the final set. Madison Burr finished with eight blocks on the night with four coming during a 6-2 stretch for SDSU in set five. Sydni Schetnan added five rejections (four assists, one solo) and setter Rylee Martin had four block assists.

Martin dished 44 assists and notched 11 digs. Joslyn Richardson recorded a team-high 14 digs.

Ava Ball posted 17 kills and six digs, while Samantha Laird added 12 kills. Morgan Bode matched Burr with eight blocks on the night (six assists, two solo).

South Dakota State held the edge in hitting efficiency, posting a .276 attack percentage compared to South Dakota's .152. The Jackrabbits also out-blocked the Coyotes 16-11 and committed fewer attack errors (17 to 36). South Dakota had more kills (62 to 54) and service aces (8 to 4).

Set one: South Dakota put down 18 kills in the opening frame to win 25-22. The Jackrabbits trailed 21-16 late in the opener, but used strong serving from Madison Burr to come back within two at 23-21 before the Coyotes closed it out.

Set two: The Jackrabbits responded by dominating the second set. The Jacks jumped out to a 3-0 lead and never looked back. SDSU hit .535 with 13 kills and no errors in the frame.

Set three: The third set was tight throughout with nine tie scores and four lead changes. Burr put down a kill to put the Jackrabbits up three at 12-9. USD tied the set multiple times, then took the lead back at 18-17 following a block. The Jackrabbits quickly went back up, scoring the next four points to lead 21-18. SDSU eventually took a 2-1 lead in the match on a Zgonc kill.

Set four: USD capitalized on eight SDSU attack errors in the fourth set to force set five. Neither side led by more than two until a 3-0 stretch for the Coyotes scored six of the final eight points.

Set five: SDSU took control early in the tiebreak set. Burr notched three straight blocks as the Jackrabbits took a 4-2 lead, then had two more during a 4-0 stretch to lead 8-4 at the side change. Klein, Zgonc and Schetnan tallied kills over the final seven points, including a match-winner from Zgonc.

NOTES
SDSU has won each of the last four regular season meetings against USD. The Coyotes lead the all-time series 61-43.

UP NEXT
South Dakota State goes on the road next week to take on North Dakota State Thursday night at St. Thomas on Saturday.

-GoJacks.com