The SDSU wrestling team assembled one of its strongest showings of the young season at the UNI Open on Dec. 3 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The Jacks placed five of their grapplers in four different weight classes, including an individual title for redshirt junior Aaron Pickrel.

“I thought we performed very well considering the level of competition and the experience that our kids have,” said head coach Jason Liles. “To have a champion and another one of our kids in the finals was very encouraging.”

SDSU junior heavyweight Joe Skow fights for position against Midland Lutheran’s Leviticus Roberson during the Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open on Nov. 6. - Collegian Photo by Kathy Kroeger

The level of competition was indeed exceedingly high at Saturday’s tournament, which featured participants from powerhouse programs Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska, but the Jackrabbits more than held their own.  The Jacks were once again guided by team leader Pickrel; the Watertown native posting a 4-0 mark for the day, concluding with a 3-0 victory over Cruse Aarhus of UNI in the final round of the 125-pound weight class. It was another strong showing for Pickerel who reached the semifinals at the Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open and earned two decisions, including a major, at the Campbell triangular.

Another Jacks leader, senior Nick Flynn, nearly grabbed his squad a second individual championship on the day at 157 pounds. Flynn scored three point decisions and a technical fall to advance to the final round where he would come up short to UNI’s Dustin Bonin 12-6.

“He’s (Flynn) wrestled that kid (Bonin) before, he’s been a national qualifier and I think we closed the gap on him a little bit since last year,” Liles said of Flynn’s finals match. “I think he (Flynn) did a nice job in how he competed and he needs to just keep improving.”

Junior transfers Austin Lindsay and Tony Lisek had their strongest showings of the season thus far, both placing in a tournament for the first time in their Jackrabbit careers. Lindsey advanced to the semifinals at 165 pounds before being defeated by unattached Logan Molina of Iowa State. Lindsay would rebound in the wrestleback and advance to the third-place match where he then lost to Riley Branch of UNI and finish fourth. Lisek placed third at 184 pounds, defeating true freshman teammate Dylan Penka in a wrestleback semifinal before going on to take the third place match. Penka dropped the fifth-place tilt to take sixth.

Redshirt junior Dustin Walraven suffered an early exit with a first-round loss to Matt Ortega of Indiana in the 141-pound weight class and would later falter in the wrestlebacks, failing to place.

It was a disappointing day for Walraven following his two wins in the Campbell triangular and a fifth place finish at the Williamson/Daktronics Open.

The SDSU Jackrabbits soccer team’s season came to a screeching halt Friday with a deflating 1-0 defeat to the hometown Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a semi-final game of the Summit League Tournament in Rochester, Mich. The loss breaks the Jacks’ streak of 10 consecutive non-losing performances and denies them the opportunity to go the NCAA tournament.

The Golden Grizzlies set the pace early in the first half by grabbing the lead in the sixth minute with a goal from Meghan Reynolds, which was off a through-pass into the box from Shannon Doyle. The goal was just the second allowed by First Team All-Summit League goal tender Kat Donavan and the Jacks in their last nine matches, and it would prove to be the deciding point of the game and season for SDSU.

The Golden Grizzlies, a perennial Summit League soccer power, handed the Jacks (12-6-2, 8-0-1 Summit) one of their only blemishes on an otherwise fantastic league record with the loss on Friday and a 0-0 double-overtime tie on Oct. 14.

The Jacks were able to slow the Grizzlies aggressive pace in the second half, but they could not take advantage of their defensive effort. Even though the Jacks had a couple of potential scoring opportunities, they were unable to overcome the Golden Grizzlies’ counterattacks.

Summit League Offensive Player of the Year Kayla Braffet had a golden opportunity to even up the contest late in the game when the ball was loose in the box on a set play. However, an erratic bounce caused Braffet’s shot to sail over the net – ending any hope of a comeback for the Jacks.

“It was a combination of several things, execution and poor luck among them, that led to the outcome,” said Head Coach Lang Wedemeyer.

In the end, the Jacks were just unable to break the Oakland defense. The Golden Grizzlies dominated the Jacks for much of the game — outshooting them 15-8, including four shots on goal to the Jacks’ two.

The Jacks came into the game missing seven players due to suspension, but Coach Wedemeyer insisted on not making any excuses for the team’s play.

“Certainly not having a full roster didn’t help us, but we weren’t going to make any excuses. We fielded a team that was perfectly capable of winning,” said Wedemeyer.

Friday’s game marked the final game for a strong senior class that helped elevate the Jackrabbit soccer program to new heights. The group of seniors, including All-Summit League performers Braffett, Cori Bonte, Donavan, Kelli Herman and Kelsey Ferguson, was the first class in SDSU history to be a part of four teams to qualify for the Summit League Tournament — a group that also shared in earning three regular season League titles and a Tournament title in 2008.

Coach Wedemeyer expressed his admiration for the seniors, not only for their performance on the field, but for their performance in the classroom and community as well.

The SDSU soccer team has reached the peak.

With their 3-1 win over rival NDSU Saturday night, the Jacks claimed the Summit League regular season championship. The Jackrabbits finished the season 12-5-2 overall and 8-0-1 in league play and secured the No. 1 seed in the four-team Summit League tournament set to begin on Friday in Rochester, Mich.

SDSU’s Christa Nyblom battles an NDSU defender during the Jacks’ 3-1 victory over the Bison on Oct. 29 at Fishback Park. (Collegian photo by Corey Morrow)

The game’s first half was a physical, defensive struggle with the Jackrabbits managing just one shot for the entire half to eight with five on goal for the Bison (14-3-2, 7-1-1). However, the Jacks took full advantage of that one shot as senior Kelsey Ferguson netted the goal in the 21st minute after Megan Kingston split two defenders and hooked up with an unmarked Ferguson on a cross pass to put the Jacks up 1-0.

“They put a lot of pressure on us and it took us a little bit of time to get adjusted to that through the first half,” head coach Lang Wedemeyer said. “I felt we played better soccer in the second [half] and created some dangerous scoring chances.”

The offense would indeed open up significantly in the second half for the Jacks; launching 12 shots with four on goal. Ferguson would cap a fantastic night with her second goal of the game in the 48th minute following assists from Kingston and Darci Miller to increase the lead to 2-0. The Jacks would gut it out for the next 14 minutes before NDSU’s Anisha Kinnarath cut the deficit in half in the 62nd minute with an unassisted goal following a free kick. The goal snapped SDSU’s streak of eight consecutive games without allowing a goal. The goal also ended senior goalkeeper Kat Donavan’s 823 minute, 23 second shutout minutes streak, which was the 12th longest in NCAA history.

The Jacks would not be deterred by the Bison goal, coming back in the 76th minute with a goal from junior Christa Nyblom who chipped the ball over the NDSU goaltender’s head in the far corner of the net following a cross pass from Abby Jurgens, who received the ball on a deep pass from Stephanie Peterson, to put the game away for the Jacks.

“There was just a lot of determination,” Nyblom said. “There was energy from the beginning of the game, right off the bat, even in the locker room and in this week in general.”

Ferguson, one of 12 seniors being honored at Senior Night, believed that her and her team members had a higher level of commitment to each other than in the past.

“We just believed in each other on a different level, you could see it …. you could feel it,” Ferguson said.

SDSU is the No. 1 seed heading into the Summit League tournament where they will face fourth-seeded Oakland on the Golden Grizzlies’ home field. The two teams fought to a grueling scoreless tie in Brookings back on October 14th. If the Jacks win Friday night, they’ll play the winner of the NDSU/UMKC match for the post-season Summit crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on Sunday at noon.

The Jacks (12-13 overall and 4-8 in the Summit League), adorned in hot pink for breast cancer awareness month, came out on fire to win a highly competitive opening set 26-24. The Jacks much maligned offense was exceptional in the first set with a .256 attack percentage and 15 kills. Star attacker Kelli Fiegen posted a .429 hitting percentage with five kills, the last of which was the winner in the set.

However, the Jacks early fire was quickly cooled as Oakland (12-9, 6-5) ripped SDSU 13-25 in the second set which included a 12-1 scoring run by the Grizzlies.

The Jacks would storm out of the gates early in both the third and fourth sets taking 5-1 and 4-1 leads, respectively, before giving away both by final scores of 23-25 and 21-25 with the match ending on an underwhelming double touch foul.

Fiegen and fellow juniors Kaitlin Klingemann and Kelly Herrmann ended the match having combined for 36 of the teams 44 total kills (Fiegen 15, Klingemann 11 and Herrmann 10) with Fiegen posting an tremendous .429 attack percentage for the match. Sophomore Lexi Fowler anchored the Jacks defense with a career high 22 digs and tallied 38 set assists to post her team-leading eighth double-double of the season.

The loss is the ninth in the last 10 games for the Jacks, but despite once again coming out on the losing end of the outcome, the team had plenty of positives to pull from the rubble of their latest defeat.

The Jackrabbits played with a noticeably higher intensity and energy that had been missing for the past few games and looked to be on pace to return to a more uptempo style of play that the team is comfortable with.

“I think we saw glimpses of it tonight” said Fowler on her teams renewed sense of urgency. “We started out strong enough we just have to follow it up the next few games.”

The Jacks stagnant offensive play, a key catalyst in their losing streak, also saw a definite improvement Friday night as the team finished with a .147 attack percentage, up significantly from the disappointing .098 percentage last Saturday at IUPUI and suggests that there may finally some light at the end of tunnel for the embattled squad.

Head coach Phil McDaniel said that his team played with much better energy and showed glimpses of a return to their style of game, but said that there needs to be more balanced play on both sides of the net.

Fowler added that team leadership could be another factor in determining the future success of the Jacks.

“We’re going to have to start leading by example. We’re falling into a slump right now were everyone kind of jumps on the crazy train and were not playing our game of volleyball, so we need to lead by example and start doing things right.”

Bailey Philippot looks for a kill in a sweep of Western Illinois at Frost Arena on Sept. 17 (Collegian photo by Aaron Stoneberger)

Questions abound as the Jacks continue to struggle in conference play.

The SDSU Jackrabbits volleyball team has been digging a hole for themselves as of late. After last weekend, they might be in over their heads.

The Jacks were dealt a pair of 3-0 losses at the hands of Summit League foes Western Illinois and IUPUI sending their record plummeting to 12-12 overall and 4-7 in the Summit League. SDSU sits in the Summit League cellar less than a month after beginning league play at 3-0 with an 11-4 overall record.

“We’ve hit a rough spot,” said head coach Phil McDaniel. “We’re learning to battle through tough times and unfortunately it’s taking us a little longer to bounce back.”

The weekend began with a trip to Macomb, Ill., on Friday for a rematch with the Western Illinois Leathernecks (10-10, 3-7), whom SDSU swept back on Sept. 17, and were promptly shutdown in the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-17.

The third set was much more competitive, featuring 17 tie scores and six lead changes, but had the same outcome with the Jacks losing, 29-27.

Kelli Fiegen belted 13 kills to pace the Jacks offensively. Shay Birath, who reached the prestigious 1,000 dig plateau on Sep. 24th against Oakland, recorded 32 digs on Friday, the most in a three-set match in South Dakota State history. Birath broke the mark previously held by Samantha Pearson who notched 28 digs during a match with Louisiana-Lafayette in 2007.

The next night, the Jacks headed east to Indianapolis for a date with IUPUI whom SDSU defeated 3-2 in Brookings on Sept. 16. The rematch, like their rematch with Western Illinois, would be a completely different story, as the Jacks were thoroughly dismantled by scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-18 as IUPUI improved to 11-11 overall and 6-5 in the Summit. The Jaguars held the Jacks to a paltry .098 attack percentage and more than doubled their kill output with 53 total kills compared to just 26 for the Jacks. Fiegen paced the stale SDSU offense with eight kills.

With the weekend defeats, the Jackrabbits have now lost eight of their last nine contests; having been swept six times during the stretch. Much of SDSU’s recent lack of success can be attributed to an ineffective offense that once again underperformed, averaging just a .133 attack percentage for both games this weekend. McDaniel affirmed his team’s offensive woes in his comments, stating that the offense is struggling and needs to be more productive.

The Jacks will have a prime opportunity to get back on the winning track this weekend when they host a pair of Summit League foes. Oakland comes to Frost Arena on Friday and IPFW Saturday, both slated for 7 p.m. start times. McDaniel emphasized playing with emotion and energy as keys to winning future games.

“It’s a matter of playing with that emotion that got us to an 11-4 record that we haven’t seen in awhile. For us, it’s going to be focusing on coming out with high energy and making sure that we play at our speed and get back to playing our style of volleyball which has been absent for the past few games.”

SDSU’s Amanda Stout receives a volley in the Jacks victory over Western Illinois on Sept. 17. The Jacks dropped both road matches to IPFW and Oakland to fall to 3-2 in the Summit League.

SDSU dropped a pair of road matches, coming back to earth after a fast start.

The Jackrabbits, riding high after claiming wins in their first three conference games of the season, were brought back down to Earth with an abrupt crash as SDSU was unceremoniously swept by a pair of Summit League foes on Friday and Saturday.

The Jacks fell to IPFW (8-5 overall, 2-1 in the Summit League) in straight sets, 25-22, 25-20 and 25-22 Friday in Fort Wayne, Ind., and to Oakland (7-6, 2-2) in nearly the same fashion by scores of 25-18, 25-18 and 25-11 Saturday in Rochester, Mich.
Despite the outcome, SDSU played very well against IPFW. The Jacks held multi-point leads in all three sets but were unable to close any of them out. The third set was especially intense, featuring a dozen ties and six lead changes before the Mastodons put the match away by scoring five of the final six points.

Kelli Fiegen was the workhorse on offense, leading the team with eight kills. Three other players, Kaitlin Klingemann, Bailey Philippot and Ellyce Youngren, each knocked down seven kills.

SDSU’s battle with Oakland the following night was not nearly as dramatic.

The Jacks managed to grab an early 10-4 lead in the first set before the Golden Grizzles would turn on the afterburners, going on a 21-8 scoring run to snatch away an SDSU victory in the first set. The Grizzlies momentum would carry over in the next two sets as the Jacks were overwhelmed by the Oakland defense, specifically being held to a .000 attack percentage in the third set. Fiegen and Klingemann once again provided the attack on offense, pounding six kills each with Klingemann posting a team high attack percentage of just .250.

The losses dropped SDSU’s record to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in Summit League play.

“I liked the way we played Friday; Saturday was a little bit of a different story,” said head coach Phil McDaniel.

McDaniel elaborated that his team played aggressively and paid sharp attention to detail early in both matches, but eventually lost track of the opposing attackers.

One particularly bright spot on for the Jackrabbits over the dull weekend was junior Shay Birath reaching the milestone of 1,000 career digs. Birath came into the weekend needing 24 digs to reach 1,000. She cut her magic number to 16 against
IPFW and hit the mark the following night, becoming just the 13th Jackrabbit to make it to 1,000 digs.

“She is the anchor of our defense,” said McDaniel. “It really is a great accomplishment, especially for a junior.”

Birath’s milestone achievement comes on the heels of Youngren achieving the 1,000 kill mark a week earlier in the Jacks victory over IUPUI.

The Jacks will look to correct their losing ways in a Summit League showdown against rival NDSU Saturday at 1 p.m. at Frost Arena.