Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Salukis Hoping Experience Leads To A Strong 2001 Volleyball Season
06/26/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
June 22, 2001
Carbondale, IL. - The Southern Illinois University Carbondale volleyball team began the new millennium with a dissapointing 8-22 overall record after the Salukis started the season 6-0. The 8-22 mark included a dissapointing 1-17 Missouri Valley Conference record and 14 match losing string during the 2000 season.
The Salukis should finish the 2001 campaign in much better shape. Coach Sonya Locke will begin the season with all seven athletes returning that started for her last season, including junior all-MVC second team outside hitter Kristie Kemner and senior middle blocker Jenny Noel. Locke expects the experience of last season to benefit the 2001 team.
Kemner and Noel will lead a group of three seniors (Noel, Megan Baumstark, Lisa Vodin) and four juniors (Kemner, Tara Cains, Lindsey Schultz, Qiana Nelson) who started most of the matches along with three additional letterwinners (junior Amber Britton and sophomores Lisa Ciucci and Kelly Harman) who have come back to make a run at a berth in the 2001 MVC Tournament. Britten Follett, a sophomore who started at setter for three matches before an injury, will return as well to provide depth.
Kemner led SIU in kills (340), kills per game (3.51), total attempts (924), digs (280), digs per game (2.89) and service aces (41). She finished third in overall MVC statistics in ace average (.423 per game) and was sixth in kills per game (.351). In MVC play she finished eighth (3.40) in kill average. Kemner was also fourth at SIU with 26 assists.
Noel, who will be a three year starter, led SIU with 1.05 blocks per game, 107 total blocks and 88 block assists. She was second in kills (262), kill average (2.57 per game), total attempts (672), digs (246), digs per game (2.41), solo blocks (19) and was second among regulars in hitting percentage (.241). Noel was also fifth in assists (24) and provided key leadership for the Salukis.
Junior outside hitter Tara Cains led the Salukis with a .250 hitting percentage and was third in blocks (65), solo blocks (9), block assists (56), assist (37), kills (213) and kills per game (2.27). Cains was also fourth in digs (169) and total attempts (524).
Senior setter Megan Baumstark took over the setter?s job early in the season and led SIU with 1029 assists and 10.29 assist per game. Her season overall totals and MVC only statistics (10.966 assists per game) ranked sixth in both categories. Baumstark was third in digs (179) and service aces (18) and fourth in block assists (42) and total blocks (47). Baumstark also added 75 kills. She and Follett will provide experience and depth at the setter position.
Junior Qiana Nelson is a leaper who finished third in total attempts (613) and fourth in kills (198). She added 139 digs and 25 total blocks.
The final starting spot was shared by senior defensive specialist Lisa Vodin and junior middle blocker Lindsey Schultz. Schultz led SIU with 20 solo blocks and was second with 71 block assists, 91 total blocks and .96 blocks per game. She was fifth in kills (176), kills per game (1.85) and attempts (431) and provided coach Locke with an additional presence in the middle to team with Noel. Vodin was a serving threat with 29 service aces (second to Kemner) and had 160 digs (fifth best) in her limited playing time.
Locke also recieved contributions from her returning bench players. Britton added 23 kills and a .218 hitting percentage, Ciucci totaled 14 service aces and 75 digs and Harman chipped in 44 kills and 26 digs in limited playing time. Their experience and the return of Follett will provide Locke with 11 players who have spent time on the court together.
The Salukis lost three seniors who experienced very little playing time last year and replaced them with five newcomers. SIU has added freshmen Erica Miller, Carrie Shepard and Linsey Jasper and transfers Audrey Husk and Syretha Eckford to the mix.
Shepard is a 5'10 middle blocker who lead Blue Valley North High School to a runner-up finish in Kansas. Jasper is a 5'10 outside hitter from Zion, Illinois and Miller is a 5'4 defensive specialist from Middlebury, Indiana. Husk is a 5'10 junior middle blocker who transferred from Shawnee Community College in Illinois and Eckford, a former junior college teammate of setter Megan Baumstark, is a senior transfer from Florida A&M University and a 6'1 middle blocker.
