2 weeks Ago By Matt Zimmer
SIOUX FALLS — The South Dakota State volleyball team picked up its ninth win of the season on Thursday at the Jackrabbit Invitational at the Sanford Pentagon. That equals their win total from all of last season. The Jackrabbits were impressive in their home away from home, mostly dominating in a 3-0 sweep of Idaho State, answering every charge by the Bengals and pulling away near the end of all three sets.
ADVERTISEMENT And while it's still early and a favorable schedule has aided their surge, a 9-0 start is a 9-0 start, especially for a team that struggled as much as the Jacks did last year. While nearly every team at South Dakota State has experienced significant success since the Division I move, volleyball has been a sore spot for years. When Dan Georgalas took over as coach in 2020 he immediately improved the team, taking them from among the worst teams in the country to a competent and competitive Summit League squad.
They went 19-12 in 2021 and 18-15 in '22. But the rebuild hit a snag last year, chemistry deteriorated and morale slumped as they fell to 9-20. But a clean slate in 2024 has enabled the Rabbits to get back on track.
They're winning matches and having fun doing it. "We've been bringing up the 9-win thing all week, just to kind of make light of last season," Georgalas said. "Because now here we are and the vibe is totally different.
We're on a fun run right now." The chemistry and positive vibes were easy to sense watching the Jacks play on Thursday. Their team celebrations and the way they rooted for each other between plays and from the bench never felt forced.
There were a few times the Bengals would make a mini-rally to take the lead, but it didn't take long for the Jacks to reestablish control each time. They were consistently in the right place on defense, and on offense they used their size and attacking power to be a force at the net. "I really think personality-wise we're just clicking," said 6-foot-5 middle blocker Sydni Schetnan, a former Sioux Falls Washington star and transfer from Louisville.
"My connections with our two setters is so much better than it was last year. We were able to keep a really solid core from last year and in the spring we were able to regroup and learn more about each other and that helped us bring a better culture into this season." The Jacks brought in a handful of transfers — Rachel Wieber from Southern Utah, Sophie Johnson from Dordt, Finley Westover from Western Illinois, Alyssa Groves from Colorado State and Camryn Honn from New Hampshire, while freshman Meghan Roggenkamp and Madison Burr have also come in and made an impact.
ADVERTISEMENT That provided a spark to a core of sophomores Sylvie Zgonc (last year's Summit League freshman of the year), Rylee Martin and Joslyn Richardson and juniors Schetnan, Katie Van Egdom and Alia Schlimgen. They've shown through nine games they can produce on the floor, but their buy-in and willingness to play with and for each other has been the difference compared to last year's 20-loss team. "This is the closest team we've had here," Georgalas said.
"We've got a lot of mature people in the locker room who want to contribute. We don't have egos. We don't have people getting pissed off about sharing the libero jersey or being in a 6-2.
We're just winning as a group and supporting each other. It's all been very positive." SDSU continues play in the Jackrabbit Invitational at 7 p.
m. on Friday when they take on Toledo, probably their toughest opponent yet this year. They then face Belmont on Saturday at 1 p.
m. That will move the Jacks closer to the Summit League opener on Sept. 26 at Oral Roberts, and the home opener on Oct.
3, which will be the grand opening of First Bank and Trust Arena. The Jacks wanted to start strong to be ready to christen the new arena with momentum, and they seem well on their way. "We're super excited to play in the new arena," Schetnan said.
"We have some good teams coming up so we've got to keep pushing. I think our ceiling is limitless. We haven't reached our peak yet.
We're 9-0 but there's more to come for sure.".
