Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Volleyball Faces Tennessee-Martin In Non-Conference Play On Tuesday
10/04/2004 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 4, 2004
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - After five straight losses, all on the road, the Southern Illinois (4-11, 2-3 MVC) volleyball squad will attempt to get back on the winning track on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. non-conference affair against Tennessee-Martin (3-9, 1-3 OVC) in Martin, Tennessee.
The match will be seventh straight road match for the Salukis and an important match for many reasons.
"I think it's important for our team's morale to play well. Winning is essential, but I think playing well is of the essence. I just want us to play hard, stay systematic, play great defense, serve tough and hit well. If we do those things we'll be fine," said Sonya Locke, SIU head coach.
"We have to play to the best of our abilities instead of playing passive and I think we played passive last weekend. That's not an SIU characteristic and I hope that it's behind us. We have to have offense, but defense breads offense and we didn't play very good defense last weekend. It's been proven that when we do, we play good offensively. They go hand in hand right now. To score big points, you have to dig a ball or block a ball and we didn't do either."
SIU is coming off MVC losses to Drake and Creighton last weekend, while Tenn.-Martin ended an eight-game losing streak last Saturday with a 3-1 win over Samford in Ohio Valley Conference play.
The Skyhawks have a 3-9 record and play good defense, but Locke expects a tough match on the road.
"They're always a good defensive team and they're averaging 15.4 digs per game. They always give us a great match. The records don't mean much right now," added Locke.
The Salukis are led by Marissa Washington's .314 hitting percentage (7th in MVC overall) and Haley Hann's 175 kills and 2.97 kills per game.
Tenn.-Martin follows the lead of Leigh Reiniche (134 kills, 129 digs) and Jamie Hollins (101 kills, 113 digs).
SIU is 7-1 all-time against the Skyhawks and 3-1 under Sonya Locke, including last year's 3-1 win (19-30, 30-17, 30-21, 30-25) in Carbondale.
