By: Shane Koob

Assistant Sports Editor

He had no idea it was going to happen.

Then again, not many people saw the University of Nebraska-Omaha eliminating its football program with the move to Division I athletics coming.

“At first, you’re just really upset,” Maverick-turned-Jackrabbit punter Jason Schlautman said. “You’re mad and you don’t really understand it … we just had to accept it and go forward.”

It was especially puzzling to Schlautman and his former UNO teammates because the program had good coaches, nice facilities and a strong tradition, including a 10-0 record his first year on the team. Nonetheless, he no longer had a team to punt for.

But it wasn’t long until the calls requesting his services started pouring in. Schlautman said the weeks that followed were pretty hectic as he tried to figure out where to go, he knew he wanted to keep playing. Most schools contacting him were Division II programs, but SDSU emerged as the front-runner.

One of the more important factors for Schlautman was being able to continue his classes and graduate on time, which he said he found at SDSU.

The stars also aligned for Schlautman on the field, as the Jacks were looking for a punter to fill the shoes of Dean Priddy, a 2010 senior.

“There was a spot open and [special teams coordinator Shannon Moore] stressed how important [SDSU’s] special teams are and how much they work on that, so I was pretty impressed by that. I took a visit up here and I liked it,” Schlautman said.

Head coach John Stiegelmeier said SDSU was looking at players for a few different positions after UNO shut down their program. That’s when they found Schlautman.

“The more we researched him, we thought he’d be a great option really,” Stiegelmeier said. “Initially it was kind of discovering him and then we really lucked out getting him.”

So when the the transfer was complete, Schlautman found himself heading to Brookings last summer to prepare for the season with his new teammates and get accustomed to a whole different level of football. It didn’t seem to phase him.

“Punting at D-II is no different than punting at D-I. [SDSU] ran the same scheme that we ran at UNO, so that was pretty easy and I just think it really helped having the three years starting at UNO and it helped make the transition pretty easy,” Schlautman said.

The addition of the Columbus, Neb. native was initially more of an insurance policy for the SDSU kicking game, but Schlautman came in and won the starting job over redshirt freshman Ethan Sawyer. The move couldn’t have worked better for the Jacks, and Schlautman has the stats and post-season honors to prove it.

Posting a career-high average of 42.2 yards a punt, tying a career-long boot of 63 yards, nine of his 57 punts inside the 20-yard line and 14 punts of 50-plus yards, Schlautman was the lone Jackrabbit selected for the All-MVFC first team. He was also honored on the MVFC All-newcomer team.

Schlautman credits almost everyone but himself for the impressive numbers he posted in the 2011 season.

“Our scheme and our coaches and our unit really helped make that punting average what it is. I had the easy part. I just had to catch the ball and punt it,” Schlautman said.

“I thought he did a tremendous job. A tremendous job in every area. From just adapting to a new program to really excelling on the football field, yeah, I was very happy,” Stiegelmeier said of Schlautman’s season.

Perhaps the highlight of Schlautman’s brief stint with the Jackrabbits had nothing to do with kicking a ball.

For SDSU fans, it was the ‘fake’ punt on Hobo Day against Southern Illinois, which Stiegelmeier insists wasn’t really a fake punt. Schlautman confirmed the denial and said the run was caused by an off-target snap followed by a heavy rush from the Salukis that forced him to make a play.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get the punt off. I started taking off left and I wasn’t sure if I was going to punt it or run and I saw a hole and I just went after it. I saw the first down marker and I knew I had to get that or I wasn’t going to be able to go back to the sideline,” Schlautman said.

The 18-yard scramble kept the SDSU offense on the field and the drive ended with a touchdown to put the Jacks up 35-14 at halftime. It was a crucial play at a crucial time and one that will arguably go down as one of the top moments of the 2011 season.

“Just a heads up play,” Stiegelmeier said. “In football we talk about guys where the game’s moving in slow motion for them, they can make decisions on the run. That’s a great example of a guy who saw a bad situation and turned it into a good situation.”

With his football eligibility over, Schlautman plans on returning to UNO next semester to student teach and eventually graduate as a Maverick.

“It’s been very unique and it’s been great,” Schlautman said of his time at SDSU. “It’s been weird coming up here for four or five months and heading right back [to Omaha], but it’s been unique.”

Given the situation Schlautman was in after UNO dropped it’s football program and then winding up an all-conference punter for SDSU, perhaps turning bad situations into good situations is just what he does best.

By Shane Koob
Assistant Sports Editor

The SDSU student I.D. card is a ticket to many events on campus thanks to the activities fee paid by every student each semester. However, if a student wants to attend either the men’s or women’s basketball game against USD, it won’t work quite that way.

Students looking to support the Jacks against the in-state rival Coyotes will need to have a ticket in advance, instead of just showing up at the door like every other game.

With the USD men coming to Frost Arena for the first time since the 2003-04 season and the USD women since the 2009-10 season, limited tickets are available for the general student body. A way to secure a seat is by joining the official fan club of SDSU Athletics, the Rabbit Den, which was designed for SDSU students who are die-hard Jackrabbits fans.

The cost to join the club is $10, which includes a t-shirt and early entry to basketball games along with a shot to claim an early ticket to the big rivalry games, with the men’s game on Jan. 12 and the women’s game Jan. 16.

“There’s a lot of people who want to see this game that aren’t going to be able to go,” said senior Joey Hertz. “Die-hard SDSU fans who hate USD and want to see it, but they don’t have 10 extra bucks or don’t get a ticket before they’re gone.”

Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Promotions Justin Swanson said students do a great job supporting SDSU, but the system was set in place to ensure high student attendance.

“Basically we wanted to make sure that we have 6,000-plus screaming Jackrabbit fans in Frost Arena for those two games,” said Swanson. “We know what the student numbers will look like heading into to the game and also so we can allow a fair chance for any Jackrabbit fan around the community or state to purchase tickets as well.”

Joey Brown, another SDSU senior, thinks that all students should automatically get the first crack at getting seats for the big games.

“It should be just like any other game … I just think we pay enough, we shouldn’t have to pay another 10 bucks to get priority. We (students) should be first priority. I just think it’s ridiculous

Swanson said students create a positive atmosphere, so getting students to attend is important.

“They’re the ones who excite the rest of the crowd, so whatever we can do to get more Jackrabbit students there, it’s something that we’re really going to push,” Swanson said.

Instead of handing out hard copies of tickets, the ‘ticket’ to the USD game(s) will be loaded onto the student’s SDSU I.D. card which will be swiped at the gate, just like a normal game.

But time is running out to claim an early ticket. The Rabbit Den will have a table set up on Main Street of The Union from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Dec. 9. There, students can join the club and have their tickets loaded onto their I.D. cards.

Without joining the Rabbit Den, students wanting to attend one or both of the USD games will need to show up to Frost Arena on Dec. 10 during the basketball doubleheader to claim one of a limited number of tickets available to the general student body. Student ticket loading will begin at 4 p.m. on Dec. 10.

It wasn’t much of a contest but SDSU’s 74-35 rout of Division II St. Cloud State on Nov. 11 still counts.

Jill Young dribbles by St. Cloud State defender Jordi Gerking in SDSU’s 74-35 win on Nov. 11 at Frost Arena. Young hit seven three-pointers and finished the night with 25 points. (Collegian photo by Aaron Stoneberger)

Head coach Aaron Johnston made sure his team wasn’t focusing on the level of competition before the game.

“We talked about what we wanted to do in the game and I thought our team responded really well to that … it’s just a good start for us in the regular season,” Johnston said.

Jill Young led the Jacks to victory by tying career-highs with 25 points, including seven three pointers. The win was the 19th consecutive victory in season openers for SDSU.

After the game, Young said her big night came from what the SCSU defense gave her and also credited her teammates for her performance.

“We played well going inside and outside. I guess when [SCSU] doubled inside, they found me on the three and when [SCSU] went to the zone, we worked it around and I was able to get some nice looks and knock some down,” Young said.

The Jackrabbits scored the first 12 points of the game and never felt much pressure from the Huskies, jumping out to a 33-10 lead at halftime in front of 1,668 fans at Frost Arena.

It was a dreadful first half for SCSU, as the Huskies shot a meager 14.8 percent from the field and couldn’t put anything together against a stout Jackrabbit defense that tallied nine steals in the first half alone.

The SDSU offense stayed consistent throughout the game and the Jacks scored with ease, shooting an efficient 52.1 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from three-point range on the night. One of the few negatives in last Friday’s game was turnovers as SDSU turned the ball over a total of 21 times compared to 19 for the Huskies.

Meanwhile, the SCSU offense struggled throughout the contest and finished the game without a double-digit scorer. The Jacks had the clear height advantage in the game and limited the Huskies’ second chances, out-rebounding SCSU 49-27.

Other than the turnovers, Johnston was pleased with his team’s opening night victory.

“We played against a team that plays really hard and I thought we were pushed and had to work hard to make the plays that we did, so we got a lot of good out of this game,” Johnston said.

With the score one-sided all night, Johnston was also able to work in some of the less-used players and freshmen off the bench. In fact, besides Tara Heiser and Megan Waytashek who are out with injury, every player on the roster played eight or more minutes.

“It was good for us to get out and play a regular season game, play here at home, play with a lot of effort and urgency. We also saw some trapping zone, which we’ll see a few times this year … it gave us an idea of what we need to maybe adjust or work on with that style of defense,” Johnston said.

Young agreed that overall it was a good night to get the season started off on the right foot.

“It feels great to get the first [win] under the belt and just have a good start to the season,” Young said.

Outside of a big orange ball and no helmets, SDSU’s 84-73 win over Utah State last Sunday looked a lot like a football game.

The two teams combined to commit 52 fouls and shoot 73 free throws in a very physical game.

SDSU forward Jennie Sunnarborg fires a shot in the first half of the Jacks game against Utah State on Nov. 13. (Collegian photo by Aaron Stoneberger)

“I would not have wanted to be an official in this game. There probably could have been a foul called every second pass, every shot, on the boards. Both teams were physical,” Utah State head coach Raegan Pebley said.

“It’s just hard when there’s that many fouls because I think you lose some of your intensity defensively. Your focus on the court is ‘don’t foul‘ rather than ‘defend’, and I think that changed things a little bit for us,” SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said.

A little bit of change wasn’t enough to keep the SDSU defense from dominating the first half, when they weren’t fouling, of course.

The Aggies didn’t record their first field goal until the 11:24 mark of the first half and shot just 15.8 percent from the floor. USU stayed in the game by being efficient at the foul line, making 35 of 40 free throws, 18 of 22 in the first half alone.

The SDSU offense scored early and often at the beginning of each half to put the Jacks up big. The Jackrabbits opened the game on an 18-2 scoring run which eventually led to a 39-24 halftime lead.

Amid all the whistles, Ashley Eide was all over the court and scored a team-high and career-high 27 points while also being the leading rebounder for the Jacks with eight boards. After the game, Johnston called Eide “a great player” who plays hard, which makes her fun to coach.

“She’s improved her game every single year. She’s a much more consistent shooter now, which is huge for her. She’s great at getting to the basket, she’s more under control, a much better passer. I just think Ashley’s going to keep getting better and better,” Johnston said.

One of the few negatives to Eide and SDSU’s performance was turnovers.

The Jacks turned the ball over 22 times and the Aggies were equally as sloppy, recording 20 turnovers. The source of SDSU’s high number of turnovers may have come from their strategy for the game.

“We just wanted to focus on being aggressive and being the attacking team,” Eide, who had eight turnovers herself, said. “We just needed to make plays on offense and be tough on defense … we just really wanted to be the aggressors.”

The Jacks gave USU all the defensive and offensive aggression they could handle down low. SDSU dominated in the lane, out-rebounding the Aggies 38-28 and outscoring USU 37-22 in the paint.

The aggression on defense did come at a small cost as Jennie Sunnarborg and Leah Dietel each fouled out in the final minutes of the game, but they weren’t missed much because SDSU held an 11-point advantage when each player committed their fifth foul.

Despite the fouls and turnovers, Johnston was pleased with the victory and what his team showed him over the first few weeks of the season.
“We just have a lot of toughness. That results in good defense, that results in good rebounding, that results in big plays and that’s what I’m most excited about,” Johnston said.

The Jacks now leave the friendly confines of Frost Arena for their first road contest. SDSU faces fellow mid-major power Middle Tennessee State Nov. 17 with tip-off at 7 p.m. before heading back home to play Washington State at 2 p.m. on Nov. 20.

Junior Ashley Eide drives the lane Nov. 3 against Minnesota State Moorehead. The Jacks open the season Nov. 11 at home. (Collegian photo by Aaron Stoneberger)

Arguably one of the most successful athletic programs on campus over the last decade, the SDSU women’s basketball team looks primed to make a run at a fourth consecutive NCAA tournament.

One of the big keys to getting back to the postseason, according to head coach Aaron Johnston, is figuring out where everyone fits in.

“We need to continue to get people comfortable in roles,” Johnston said. “I felt like in the exhibition games everyone was trying to do a lot and trying to earn a spot.”

After the exhibition victories over Minnesota State, Moorhead and Southwest Minnesota State, Johnston said he liked his team’s aggressiveness. With the regular season opener Nov. 11 against St. Cloud State, the roles have begun to solidify, so focus can turn toward other areas of the game.

“Now that we’re far enough in we’ll be able to identify exactly where players can help us and what their roles are and that usually helps clean up the offense and defense as well,” Johnston said.

Two roles are already locked up by the lone seniors on SDSU’s roster: Jill Young and Jennie Sunnarborg will no doubt lead the way for the Jacks.

Sunnarborg returns as SDSU’s leading scorer. The 6-2 forward averaged 13 points a game last season and led the team with 43 blocked shots — season qualified to earn preseason first-team all-Summit League honors this year.

Young comes off a solid junior campaign, averaging 10.4 points while making 41.4 percent of her three-point attempts. The senior guard enters the season with 222 career three-pointers which puts her on pace to break the Jackrabbits career three-pointers mark of 250, held by Brenda Davis (2001-04) and Kristin Rotert (2008-11).

After that, the other roles on the team aren’t as clear. Johnston likes his team’s depth, and  he also said that this might be the tallest and strongest team he’s coached.

“We’re going to need to be a good team physically on offense and defense,” Johnston said. “We’re going to have to use our strength and height maybe more than in the past.”

Juniors Katie Lingle and Leah Dietel look to have recovered from last season’s injuries and are ready to be full-time contributors.

Lingle, 6-2 like fellow post Sunnarborg, moved to the starting lineup late last season and was named to the all-tournament team at the Summit League tournament.

Dietel has proven to be an effective rebounder in her limited action over her first two seasons. But after sustaining some injuries in her career, can she stay healthy?

The schedule’s not light on competitive programs either. It’s highlighted by six games against NCAA tournament qualifiers and non-conference games on the road with Nebraska and fellow mid-major power Middle Tennessee State. Frost Arena will also host Washington State and Kansas State, who SDSU went 1-1 against last year.

It also means a Jan. 16 showdown with in-state rival and Summit League new-comer USD. The Jacks also close out the regular season with three straight games at home against NDSU, IUPUI and Western Illinois.

SDSU was picked to finish third in the Summit League behind Oral Roberts and Oakland. ORU will likely give the Jacks the most trouble as they return most of their starters, led by guard Kevi Luper, who was voted preseason Player of the Year.

The Jacks have a tough schedule but Johnston knows that to be the best, you have to play with the best.

“This [season] is going to be hard for us. It’s going to be a big challenge,” Johnston said.  “We have a lot of teams that either played in the NCAA’s or even the WNIT. I think we learned last year that we do have the ability to win a lot of games but last year I think really helped remind us that we have the ability to lose games too … if we don’t play great basketball we have a good chance to get beat.”

The SDSU volleyball team received a crash-course in plate tectonics on their road trip last weekend. Yes, they experienced an earthquake. Actually, two earthquakes, but most players were sleeping during the Friday-night quake.

“Most of our players didn’t feel the first one,” Head Coach Phil McDaniel said. “On Friday night there was an earthquake at about 2:30 (a.m.) or so and most of our players didn’t feel it.”

The quakes happened while the team was in Tulsa, Okla., for their matchup with Oral Roberts.

One of the quakes was the largest ever recorded in Oklahoma, registering a 5.6 magnitude.

For a pair of South Dakota natives on the team, Kelli Fiegen and Ellyce Youngren, it was their first time experiencing an earthquake.

“All of the sudden the lamp shades start moving, the curtains start moving,” Fiegen said. “We were on the fifth floor and all of the sudden phones are ringing everywhere and people were diving out in the hallway [saying] ‘can you feel that? Can you feel that?’.”

For players who grew up mostly in the Midwest, what to do during an earthquake isn’t exactly common knowledge.

“Emily Palmer was my roommate and we were just sitting on the bed and [when the quake started] we looked at each other and ran to the window to see if we could see the cars shaking,” Youngren said. “Then we thought ‘this is probably not what you’re supposed to do during an earthquake’.”

The second quake that the team  felt struck after SDSU’s 3-1 victory over Oral Roberts while the team was winding down at the hotel.

“It shook us enough that everybody got up and got out in the hallway and once we realized everything was okay and got everybody calmed back down it wasn’t too bad,” McDaniel said.

SDSU’s 3-0 loss to UNI at Frost Arena on Nov.7 featured a program at the top of their game and another searching for answers to a lost season.

The 12th-ranked Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in set one and never really looked back, sweeping the Jacks by scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-18.

SDSU didn’t have an answer for UNI setter Bre Payton, who posted 32 assists along with 11 kills in only 14 attempts. Blocking UNI’s Krista DeGeest was also a problem for the Jacks. DeGeest recorded a .571 attack percentage and finished the night with a match high of 13 kills.

Phil McDaniel, SDSU head coach, had the scouting edge for the match, having coached at Drake against UNI in the Missouri Valley Conference the previous three seasons. That edge didn’t seem to factor much into the final decision, though.

“Obviously UNI’s a very good team,” McDaniel said. “I’ve known that group for four years now, coming from the Valley, and they’re well coached and very athletic and move the ball around very well.”

Battling from behind the whole first set, the Jacks pulled within one point but couldn’t get past the fast-paced UNI offense.

Set two was close to the same story. Instead of playing from behind from the get-go, the Jacks held a slim lead during the first half of the set, but UNI wouldn’t go away and ended the match with four straight kills. The Panthers picked up right where they left off in set three, and the Jacks really didn’t have much of a chance for a comeback.

The Jacks have suffered from mental mistakes and inconsistent play all season long and last Monday wasn’t any different.

“I don’t think we did terrible,” Kelli Fiegen said. “We could’ve done better, kind of sloppy and we just weren’t engaged the whole time.”

Fiegen nailed a team high of 10 kills, followed by Kelly Herrmann and Kaitlin Klingemann with nine and eight kills, respectively. The Jacks finished the night with a .164 attack percentage for an offense that looked out of sync most of the match.

What’s the biggest difference between the two programs that battled in Frost Arena on Nov. 7?

“They’ve got the complete group there and I’d say we’re missing a couple pieces,” McDaniel said.

UNI extended its winning streak to 17 games while the Jacks fell to 13-18 overall. The match showed what tradition can do for a program and what SDSU needs to work on.

“The [tradition] is passed down from year to year with new freshmen coming in knowing that they have to work hard,” Fiegen said. “I think we could do a better job of taking a little bit more pride in our game and playing for South Dakota State.”

Kelli Fiegen’s 1,000th kill wasn’t enough to stop the SDSU volleyball team from extending their losing streak to its seventh match at Southern Utah Nov. 3. But the Jacks quickly turned things around two nights later in Oklahoma with a 3-1 victory over Oral Roberts.

“When you’re in the middle of something like (a seven match losing streak), you start to doubt yourself. Going through what we’ve gone through the past week and a half can sometimes be hard on a team, but the girls really pulled through,” head coach Phil McDaniel said.

“They really changed their mindset and focus over the past week, and I think we were legitimately in contention to win about three of the four matches we played during that time period. This last weekend was the best volleyball I

For most of the 2011 season, SDSU has lacked an answer for the problems they’ve had on the football field. For all of their meeting with Missouri State on Saturday, the Jacks had an answer for everything.

The Jackrabbits went with what has worked this season — passing the football — and held on to pull out a 43-36 double overtime victory over the Bears, a sign that SDSU still is playing for something.

Zach Zenner, who made his first career start, scored from two yards out in the second overtime and the Jackrabbits defense found a way to shut down the Bears offense on four straight plays to pick up the Jacks’ first overtime victory in 13 years.

Both teams scored on their respective opening series of overtime, with Sumner finding Moss on a deep post on SDSU’s first play to answer the MSU touchdown, before the Jacks’ second series score and stop.

Big days were had by both ends of the Jacks air attack, with Austin Sumner throwing for a career-high 377 yards and four touchdowns. Wideouts Dale Moss and Aaron Rollin torched the MSU defense all day with Moss picking up 178 yards receiving and two touchdowns and Rollin going for 163 yards and a touchdown.

Each side swapped touchdowns and Missouri State responded to a three yard Brandon Hubert touchdown reception with a 86-yard drive that consumed nearly five minutes before a touchdown pass to Robert Fields that put the Bears ahead, 29-22.

What followed was the best example of the game to show the Jackrabbits ability to answer. On the next offensive play, Sumner went to Moss again, this time for 80 yards and the game-tying score. One play and Missouri State’s momentum and more importantly, their lead, was gone.

“We executed the way we were supposed to and the way we should have been doing in a lot of other games and we came out on top. Later in the game our mental focus was just a little bit better and that hasn’t been the case in a lot of games,” Moss said.

Missouri State had a chance to send its homecoming crowd out of