Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Buffalo (Duke Invitational)
Volleyball Falls To Buffalo 3-1 At Duke Classic
09/05/2003 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 5, 2003
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Senior Kelly Harman's 14 kills and career-high 20 digs led SIU to a 30-27 win against Buffalo in game one of their match, but the Salukis lost the next three games (30-27, 34-32, 30-28) by a total of seven points and the match 3-1 at the Duke Classic in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday. Harman's fourth career double-double and third double-double in four matches this season helped keep SIU close, but the Salukis couldn't pull out their first win of the season, falling to 0-4.
"There were times when it was match or game point and we held them off and I appreciate that effort. The kids didn't give up and hopefully we can get more of that. We're still too error-prone right now and our ball control needs to be better. Once we can get rid of the mistakes we'll win more points. We're inconsistent and we'll have to work on that in practice," said SIU Head Coach Sonya Locke.
In addition to Harman, freshman setter Holly Marita added a double-double performance with 42 assists and 13 digs with four total blocks. Sophomore Marissa Washington had five kills and added a career-best 10 block assists, which ties her for fourth with six other Salukis, including head coach Sonya Locke.
Freshman Ashley Saverine picked up 17 digs and junior libero Erica Miller added 14 digs for the SIU defense. Junior Carrie Shephard collected nine kills, seven block assists and six digs and freshman Jene' Pulliam also had nine kills and five block assists. Pulliam's .273 hitting percentage led SIU. The Salukis had a season-high 18 blocks to just 14 for Buffalo in the loss. Despite holding the Bulls to a .106 hitting percentage, the Salukis could only manage to hit .096 as a team.
SIU continues play on Saturday at the Duke Classic with a 9 a.m. match against North Carolina-Charlotte and a 6:30 p.m. match against host Duke on the Duke University campus in Durham, North Carolina.
