A long and difficult schedule awaits the 2015 edition of the South Dakota State University volleyball team.
In 1966, Pat Hale’s South Dakota State volleyball team played seven matches between Nov. 22 and Dec. 6 and became the first Jackrabbit women’s team to go undefeated. Fast forward to 2015 and first-year head coach Nicole Cirillo’s squad has a 30-match schedule starting in August and hopefully ending in late November. Things have changed in 50 years.
The Jackrabbits’ 2015 schedule features eight home matches in Frost Arena, the first Division I volleyball match at the Sanford Pentagon and four road regular-season tournaments that include matches vs. teams that reached the NCAA Tournament.
“The Jacks have no easy road this fall,” Cirillo said. “We have to learn to compete at a high level and what better way to learn than against high-level competition. These preseason matches will test us as both mentally and physically in hopes of preparing us for our conference schedule.”
Overall, the SDSU’s regular-season schedule features four matches against three different teams—Illinois, Kansas and Denver—that appeared in the 2014 NCAA Tournament field and vs. eight first-time opponents.
South Dakota State opens the season when it travels to DeKalb, Ill., for the Northern Illinois Tournament Aug. 28-29. The Jacks meet Pacific in their opener and play the host Huskies along with Iowa.
The Jackrabbits’ home opener is Sept. 1 hosting Drake in the friendly confines of Frost Arena at 6 p.m.
SDSU begins 10-match road swing when it plays in Nacogdoches, Texas, at the Stephen F. Austin Tournament Sept. 4-5. It meets Columbia University and Northeastern University Sept. 4 and then plays the host Jacks and Texas Tech Sept. 5.
A mid-week match takes the Jackrabbits to North Dakota Sept. 8 before traveling to Wichita, Kan., for the Wichita State Tournament Sept. 10-12. They meet the Shockers, Texas State and Illinois, which advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
The Jackrabbits play their second consecutive tournament in Kansas, playing in the Kansas Invitational Sept. 17-19. SDSU plays at UMKC Sept 17 in Kansas City and meets the Jayhawks Sept. 18 before taking on Missouri State and Gonzaga in Lawrence, Kan.
In its ninth year in The Summit League, South Dakota State plays eight home-and-home contests vs. league opponents. Four of the eight home Summit League contests fall on a Friday at Frost Arena.
Key dates for South Dakota State are Oct. 13 when it hosts in-state rival South Dakota; Nov. 1 when the Jackrabbits play at the Sanford Pentagon for the first time vs. Fort Wayne; and Nov. 13 when the team plays longtime opponent North Dakota State in a doubleheader with women’s basketball.
The Summit League Championship is Nov. 19-22 at Denver.
Season tickets for the nine-match home schedule are on sale now. Fans can purchase season tickets by visiting www.JackrabbitTickets.com, calling 1-866-GoJacks or (605) 688-5422, and stopping by the Jackrabbit Athletics Ticket Office open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ticket office is located on the first floor of the Stanley J. Marshall HPER Center.
