South Dakota State volleyball picked up a 25-21, 25-13, 25-19 sweep of St. Thomas Thursday night at Frost Arena.
The Jackrabbits move to 12-13 on the season and 6-7 in the Summit League while the Tommies fall to 3-23 overall and 1-13 in conference matches.
SDSU’s offense put together one of its best performances of the season. The Jacks tallied 46 kills, the most in a sweep this year, at a .365 clip, their second best attack rate of the season. SDSU’s defense held the Tommies to just .115.
Crystal Burk paced SDSU with 18 kills and a .571 hitting percentage. The fifth-year senior surpassed 1,500 kills in her career in the match, becoming the fifth Jackrabbit in program history to achieve the milestone.
Masa Scheierman added eight kills while Ella Thompson and Elyse Winter added six apiece. Setter Raegen Reilly had four kills on six attempts and gave out 35 assists.
Burk also led the defense with nine digs, followed by seven digs from Jadyn Makovicka and six from Alia Schlimgen. Middles Thompson and Sydney Andrews took part in four blocks each and Scheierman recorded three.
Scheierman posted two of the Jackrabbits’ five ace serves. Burk, Winter and Makovicka contributed one apiece.
Lauren Galvin put down 12 kills to lead the Tommies. Allie Kopp had 12 assists and Carrie Rutledge notched 11 digs.
Neither team led by more than two in the opening set until a late four-point stretch put the Jacks ahead 23-19. Burk had a kill and an ace during the run and Andrews contributed two blocks. A kill from Scheierman ended the set 25-21.
The Tommies stayed within striking distance of the Jacks in set two until SDSU strung together a 12-3 run to go up 2-0 in the match. Up by three at 14-11, Burk and Andrews notched a pair of kills each during a 5-1 run to force a St. Thomas timeout. Out of the break, the Jacks notch four more points before the Tommies managed a kill, making it 22-13. SDSU went on to win 25-13.
Tied at 17 in the final set, the Jacks surged ahead behind strong serving from Makovicka and three kills by Scheierman to lead 24-17. UST put two more points on the board before an error gave the Jacks the match.
