Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Volleyball Makes First Road Trip To Duke Classic
09/03/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2003
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
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Southern Illinois University (0-3) makes its first road trip of the year this week, when the young Salukis travel to Durham, N.C. for the Duke Classic on September 5-6 at Duke University. SIU will face Buffalo (2-2), North Carolina-Charlotte (3-1) and host Duke (0-3) in an effort to pick up its first win of the 2003 season.
"This weekend is another opportunity to see where we are as a team. I would like us to be better defensively within our system. Offensively we hope to progress so we can run a more multiple style offense. We've kept things simple so our young kids can gather some more confidence. We hope that (building confidence) will happen this weekend so we can add some more things before too long. I'm just looking for us to play more consistently than we did last weekend," SIU head coach Sonya Locke said.
The Salukis will once again face experienced teams as Buffalo returns all six starters and Charlotte and Duke each return five starters from last year's squad. Despite her opponents experience, Locke doesn't expect to see anything too difficult for her young team to handle.
"I don't expect to see anything out of the ordinary this weekend. What we do on our side of the court is what's going to be really important ... whether that's setting our block properly or communicating to each other about where the hitters are going or coming from, just doing all the little things."
Although her young team's first road trip will be in historic Cameron Indoor Stadium, Locke feels that experience will only prepare the team for the hostile crowds in the Missouri Valley Conference.
"It's a part of the game so we won't blow it out of proportion for the kids. I don't think what we see at Duke will be any different than at Illinois State, SMS, Wichita State or Northern Iowa. It will give our kids practice playing in a tough environment."
The Salukis face Buffalo on Friday at 5 p.m. and North Carolina-Charlotte on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. before finishing with host Duke Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The Salukis are led by senior Kelly Harman (3.36 kills per game, 3.00 digs per game, two double-doubles), freshman setter Holly Marita (8.82 assists per game, 2.36 digs per game, a triple-double, a double-double), freshman outside hitter Haley Hann (2.33 kills per game) and junior middle blocker Carrie Shephard (1.00 blocks per game).
