By Andrew Holtan

The Brookings Register

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State volleyball picked up a signature win on Friday night as the Jackrabbits swept Ole Miss at First Bank & Trust Arena.

SDSU (2-1) beat an Ole Miss team in straight sets that won a match in the NCAA Tournament last season and had a 2-1 record coming into Friday night. SDSU head coach Dan Georgalas said his team did a good job on offense and he liked the way they responded after a loss to Northern Iowa on Aug. 30.

“Serve, pass and score. I thought we did a really good job of keeping them off of the net. We thought they were an outside heavy offense, and we kept them into a lot of single hitter options, especially in transition. I thought we served well. We passed well. We were coming off of a UNI game where we just didn’t pass, we didn’t side out and we didn’t score well. We received their serve well all night and that allowed us to run in the middle. … It was just fun to see us score and hit .250 against an SEC team,” Georgalas said.

The Jacks jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first set. They held that lead for the rest of the set and came away with a 25-20 victory.

Georgalas said his team was very excited for the home opener and came out with great intensity. He even had to settle them down in the locker room before the match started.

“[This group] is very self motivated. I know they see the logo across the net and it’s the home opener and it’s a white out. We had a hell of an opener last year when we opened the arena and we just tried to scale [the emotions] down for them. I knew they’d be fired up. I was talking to them before about what my favorite oreos were before the match just to get them to calm down. We truly just tried to frame it that this was opponent three and our staff had a lot of confidence that we were going to rebound at home,” Georgalas said.

The momentum continued for the Jacks in the second set as they led 5-1 early. That lead grew to 11-4 and eventually it was 18-8. SDSU would then win the second set 25-18.

The third set was more competitive and Ole Miss led 12-11. SDSU then went on an 8-1 run to go ahead 19-13. The Jacks kept that lead the rest of the set and completed the sweep with a 25-20 victory.

SDSU is coming off of its first NCAA Tournament since 2007 and was able to keep all of its players. The Jacks lost three players to graduation after last season but they returned their top three players in terms of kills in Sylvie Zgonc, Sydni Schetnan and Madison Burr, and returned their top setter in Rylee Martin.

In the day and age of the transfer portal in college sports, it’s not common to see a mid-major team return players of that caliber from an NCAA Tournament team. Even in the sport of volleyball. But Georgalas said that’s a testament to the culture that he’s built at SDSU in the six years he’s been in Brookings.

“We have a great locker room and they see what we’ve built and they have a lot of ownership in it. There’s just something about this group that isn’t transactional. It’s been fun to return so many [players]. I know they’re on a mission and are very self motivated. I think part of my philosophy today was just to step aside and let them do their thing,” Georgalas said.

SDSU had 41 kills and Ole Miss had 33. The Jacks had 35 digs and the Rebels had 36. SDSU finished with 37 assists and eight blocks and Ole Miss had 32 assists and 36 digs.

Zgonc led the Jacks with 14 kills and seven digs. Schetnan had seven kills and two blocks and Burr had eight kills and six blocks. Joslyn Richardson had nine digs and Martin had 30 assists.

SDSU has also had contributions from freshmen in the first three games of the season. On Friday night, outside hitter Hannah Klein had eight kills and defensive specialist Maggie Meister had four digs. Georgalas said it’s been nice to add two talented players to an already talented roster.

“Maggie Meister was great. She had a heck of a pursuit play in set two that really fired up the crowd. Hannah Klein is a really special athlete. I think she looks a lot different than some of the other freshmen in the Summit League in terms of her physicality at the net and her ability to elevate. You combine that, and don’t forget our setter Brooke Larson on the bench is doing a great job for us too. But you add a couple of freshmen to contribute, coming off of a championship season, we just really like our side of the net,” Georgalas said.

2,256 people attended Friday night’s game. It was the second-largest crowd in history, only behind last year’s home opener, which 2,853 fans attended. It was a white out and Georgalas shouted out the fans after the game.

“[The crowd] was fantastic. They have to be acknowledged. They have to be thanked. It was students floor to ceiling. When you bring in a power opponent and your community and your campus is represented like that and with the student turnout, we’re thankful. It was just a great day for all of us,” Georgalas said.

SDSU will host Wyoming on Sunday at 12 p.m.