Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Volleyball Opens 2003 Season By Hosting 24th Saluki Invitational
08/27/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2003
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
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Nine months after SIU's first appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament final, the Salukis open the 2003 volleyball season on Friday against Austin Peay State in the 24th Saluki Invitational at 7 p.m. in Davies Gym.
"I'm ready and I hope the team's excited even though there's still a lot of hesitation in the youngsters. They're still trying to learn, understand and execute our system, so it's been frustrating for some of them who are great competitors. I hope the fans are excited also and understand this is a new team. This team doesn't have the experience and chemistry that last year's team had," said SIU head coach Sonya Locke.
The Salukis will be tested by facing three experienced teams, including an Austin Peay State (10-20 in 2002) squad that returns five of six starters, and Denver (7-20) and Iowa (8-22) teams that return six starters.
"Austin Peay State will make us scramble defensively because they'll put balls where our freshmen might not think to put a ball. Playing against these veteran teams will help us get ready for the conference season since we're so young. The three teams will pose three different kinds of challenges for us. Austin Peay, Denver and Iowa are all very different teams. It's going to be interesting," Locke added.
Locke will rely on five returners (four who played) and 13 newcomers (including 11 freshmen) to follow the success of her 2002 squad, which posted a 23-10 record (best in 17 years) and third place regular season finish (12-6, tying the 1998 team for best SIU finish) in the MVC.
"We're going to play to win, but we're not going to say this young team has to win so many matches or the whole tournament. We just want them to get comfortable with the offense, play good defense, control the ball and serve tough this weekend. They understand that they need to be more consistent and need time to get accustomed to the communication and style we play," stated Locke.
The reigning MVC and National Black Coaches Association Coach-of-the-Year wanted to start the season at home and felt that it was important for her young team to be in Davies Gym for their college debuts.
"We don't know what kind of team we have yet. We wanted to start at home, so we're lucky that we could get three teams to come here. I wanted them to have the support of the home crowd behind them the first time they step on the court since they'll be nervous for their first college match," Locke said.
As for the weekend, Locke wants it to end with a foundation for the rest of the season.
"I hope that we can say we're off to a good start and can build on what we've accomplished so far when the weekend is over. I would love to say that our young team won their first tournament but that's the ultimate I could want this weekend. I want to be able to say we started out well and have a solid base to build on," Locke added. "If this weekend doesn't work out the way fans expect I hope they don't hold it against this team because they're too talented to be judged on one weekend."
SIU will also face Denver at 11:00 a.m. and Iowa at 7 p.m. on Saturday. In addition, Denver will face Iowa at 4:30 on Friday and Iowa plays Austin Peay State at 1 p.m. and Austin Peay State battles Denver at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Tickets will be $4.00 for adults and $3.00 for high school students and under. For more information, call the SIU Ticket Office at 453-2000.
