Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Creighton
Volleyball Ends Season With 3-1 To Creighton
11/22/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 22, 2003
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - SIU senior Kelly Harman wrapped up her career with a double-double (12 kills, 12 digs), but the Salukis (7-23, 3-15 MVC) lost the match 25-30, 30-23, 30-16, 30-21 to Creighton (12-17, 9-9 MVC) in Davies Gym on Saturday.
For the second straight night SIU won game one, then lost three straight games due to a lack of ball control and hitting errors. The Salukis hit .342 in the game one win, then followed with .125, .094 and -.034 in the in the final game. Southern finished the match with a .144 hitting percentage (44 kills, 24 errors, 139 attempts).
"Our ball control got away from us at times. We have to be consistent and control it in the matches. Our kids don't like to lose and we got a little frustrated. We'll never quit, but it's hard to get so far behind and battle back to win games," said Sonya Locke, SIU head coach.
Creighton hit .335 (72 kills, 19 errors, 158 attempts) and dominated the net with 14 blocks to just five for the Salukis. The Bluejays also led SIU in kills (72 to 44), assists (62 to 39), digs (57 to 54), aces (8 to 6) and attempts (158 to 139).
Leah Ratzlaff led the Bluejays with 28 kills and 10 digs. Ashley Williams added 19 kills, Jaden Custer chipped in 12 kills and Brittany Coleman had 58 assists and eight digs for Creighton.
Harman's team-high tenth double-double led the Salukis. Marissa Washington and Jene' Pulliam added seven kills apiece, Haley Hann chipped in six kills and four blocks. Pulliam also led the SIU defense with 11 digs. Washington hit .313 (7 kills, 2 errors, 16 attempts) with three digs, three aces and two blocks. She ends the season with a team and career-high .294 overall hitting percentage and .328 MVC hitting percentage.
Harman's senior leadership is something that her teammates will sorely miss, "Kelly's provided a lot of leadership for us. She's taught us all a lot, given 100% for five years and provided a ton of encouragement. We all look up to her and her not being here will be a change for us and we'll have to pull together as a group," said Washington.
The fifth year senior wasn't happy about ending her career with a loss, but has a lot of positives to walk away with from the program.
"I'm disappointed. It's not the way I wanted to finish my career," said Harman. "I had a lot of good things happen in my time here, met a lot of great people, had great coaches and have a lot of good memories. We didn't get to the tournament this year, which is tough, but we had a great run last year and I have made a lot of good friends. I'm glad I could play more this year and I'll remember this new group of people. I think they'll be great next year."
"Kelly made the best of her time here and took advantage of her opportunities to play her senior year. She's carried a great academic load and had bad shins sometimes, but she came out and practiced hard and had a good senior year for her. She's been a great student-athlete for us," added Locke.
