KANSAS CITY, Mo. – No. 1 South Dakota State reverse swept No. 5 Denver in the semifinal round of the Summit League Tournament Monday to advance to Tuesday night’s title game. The Jackrabbits dropped the opening two sets but regrouped from there to reach the tournament title game for the second time in program history.
Set scores against the Pioneers went 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-10.
Sylvie Zgonc tallied 24 kills in the Jackrabbit victory, one off her season high and two shy of her career best. She also contributed 14 digs for her 18th double-double of the season. After a slow start for Zgonc, the Summit League Player of the Year tallied 13 kills across sets four and five. She posted seven kills on 12 swings for a .583 clip in the fifth set alone.
Sydni Schetnan added 16 kills at a .400 hitting percentage. She also took part in nine blocks, one of which was a solo rejection. Katie Van Egdom and Annalee Ventling-Brown followed with seven and six kills, respectively. Ventling-Brown and Alyssa Groves posted four blocks each.
Camryn Honn and Rylee Martin gave out 26 assists each and had one ace each while combining for 12 digs. Joslyn Richardson led the Jackrabbit defense with 17 digs – her most against a conference opponent this year – and put down two ace serves. Rachel Wieber was also in double figures on defense, contributing 11 digs to go with a pair of aces.
In comparison to the Pioneers, SDSU outscored their opponent 63-59 on kills, 8-6 in aces and 14-13 in blocks. The Jackrabbits hit .233 for the match, including .471 in the fifth, compared to .179 hitting by the Pios.
The Pioneers had a quartet of players reach double-digit kills led by Molly Mirabelli with 15. The graduate student posted her second career double-double after adding a match-high 11 total blocks.
Set one: The Pioneers went to work easrly as DU reeled off the first five points of the opening set and led 8-1 before the Jackrabbits could settle in. SDSU did just that, eventually taking a brief lead only to see DU earn the first-set victory. The Pioneers led throughout a majority of the first set losing the lead only once as the Jackrabbits rallied to square things up at 22-22 and take a 23-22 lead on an attack error. From there, the Pioneers strung together the final three points to secure a 1-0 advantage.
Set two: The Jackrabbits built an early 6-3 advantage but the Pioneers stayed within striking distance. The teams would exchange a series of 3-0 runs in what would become a back-and-forth affair. Molly Mirabelli’s fourth block of the set squared things at 10-10. With the teams tied at 13-13, Denver’s Jamia Johnson registered back-to-back kills to give DU a two-point cushion. The Pioneers would not trail again in the set but never led by more than two as they survived to establish a two-set advantage.
Set three: Facing a must-win set, the Jacks never trailed in the third as they pulled away late to cut DU’s set advantage in half with a 25-22 victory. Freshman of the Year Madison Burr closed things out with a kill.
Set four: The Jackrabbits imposed their will in set four. Sydni Schetnan and Zgonc teamed up for six kills each to help the Jacks pull even at two sets a piece and the 23-15 and 24-16 set leads for SDSU were the largest by either team in the match.
Set five: The Jackrabbits broke a 7-7 tie in the fifth set with three straight points but the Pioneers would rally to even things at 10-10 on a service ace. That ace would be Denver’s final point as the Jackrabbits tallied the next five to win the match.
NOTES
- South Dakota State will make its second title-game appearance and first since 2007.
- Zgonc registered her seventh match of the season with at least 20 kills.
- The Jackrabbits improve to 5-1 in five-set matches this season.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State will take on No. 3 seed South Dakota in Tuesday night’s championship match. First serve is set for 7 p.m. at the Swinney Center.