Cammille Kammerer
SPORTS EDITOR
The Omaha volleyball team opened up their first conference road trip Sept. 30, falling to South Dakota State 3-0 (23-25, 21-25, 22-25) in front of 526 fans at Frost Arena in Brookings, South Dakota. The Mavs are now 3-15 (0-4 Summit League) on the season.
SDSU took an early lead in the first set when Ashley Beaner had three kills to help put the Jacks up 6-2. Omaha came back to force 12 ties. After a 21-21 tie, back-to-back Omaha errors put SDSU up 23-21.
The Jackrabbits led 10-5 in the second set after taking advantage of seven more Omaha errors. The Mavericks came back to tie the match 10 times until consecutive Jackrabbits’ kills from Makenzie Hennen and Mattison Munger closed the set at 25-21.
South Dakota State had to come from behind late in the third set, trailing 22-20. UNO had a service error before freshman Ashlynn Smith and senior Nazya Thies had back-to-back kills to put the Jacks up 23-22, forcing an Omaha timeout.
After a pair of Maverick attack errors, South Dakota State finished the set on a 5-0 run to win, sweeping Omaha 25-22.
Omaha freshmen Olivia Spanton and Ashley Smith both had double-figure defensive efforts with 13 and 10 digs. Junior Sydney O’Shaughnessy finished with a match-high 35 assists alongside seven digs and two blocks.
Freshman Hannah Angeli had her fifth double-double performance of the season, totaling team highs of 15 kills and 16 digs, plus a block and an ace, with .371 hitting. Freshman Ellie Brown led the Mavericks at the net, totaling three blocks. Hannah Angeli led Omaha with 15 kills and 16 digs.
Sophomore Kayla Torson also added eight kills with six digs and a block, while senior Elise Brown had six kills while attacking at a .500 clip.
South Dakota State was led by 15 kills and four blocks from Ashley Beaner and a match-high 24 digs for Ellie Benson.
With the win, the Jackrabbits improve to 2-12 overall and 1-1 in Summit League play.
