Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Wichita State
Volleyball Beaten By Wichita State 3-0
10/31/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2003
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Wichita State's 17 aces led the Shockers (16-7, 9-3 MVC) to a 30-17, 30-23, 30-23 sweep over Southern Illinois (6-18, 2-10 MVC) on Friday at Davies Gym. The Salukis had a season-high 17 receiving errors in the match and could manage just three aces to the 17 for Wichita State.
"Our ball control hurt us and when you give up 17 aces, it's hard to overcome any deficit. Wichita State was aggressive, played confident and deserved to win the match," said Sonya Locke, SIU head coach.
"I thought our defense played well at times and picked up some one-on-one blocks, which was nice since we haven't done much of that this season."
The Salukis battled the Shockers close in the first half of the first two games before the Shockers pulled away. In game one, WSU pulled away from a 12-12 tie and outscored SIU 18-5 to win the game. The Shockers pulled away from an 11-11 tie in game two by outscoring the Salukis 19-12 and in game three Southern fell behind 11-2 and couldn't get any closer than 29-23 before losing the match.
SIU was led by Marissa Washington (.308, three blocks) and Kelly Harman with six kills apiece and Ashley Saverine's five kills.
The Shockers outhit SIU .311 to .138 and were led by Jen Ray's 14 kills and .667 hitting percentage (14 kills, no errors, 21 attempts) without an error. Sara Younes added nine kills and five of the 17 Shocker aces.
The Salukis will face first place SMS on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Davies Gym in a crucial MVC match.
