Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Northern Iowa
Volleyball Swept By Northern Iowa 3-0
11/06/2004 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 6, 2004
By Lou Antoine
SIUSalukis.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Shari Vermeer's school-record .875 attack percentage led Northern Iowa (18-8, 11-4 MVC) to a 30-25, 30-17, 30-17 sweep of Southern Illinois (9-17, 6-8 MVC) in front of 1,268 Panther fans on Saturday in West Gym.
Vermeer had 14 kills with no errors in 16 attempts to set the new UNI attack percentage record, which is also the fourth best mark in MVC history.
SIU played Northern Iowa close in game one, but the Panthers pulled away in the final two games for easy wins and the sweep.
"Part of what happened was my responsibility because I rotated the lineup to try to get some different match-ups on offense and defense and it didn't work. We stopped passing and then the frustration set in on our hitters, who couldn't get the kind of sets they wanted to get kills," said Sonya Locke, SIU head coach.
"After that happened, we just shut down. They didn't do anything different, but we stopped passing and that was the one thing that kept us in the first game. They came out in game three and took over. We just didn't battle until the end of the game, and it was too late."
Game one began as a back and forth affair with the teams trading leads up until 18-18. Northern Iowa pulled out to a 25-20 lead behind Vermeer, who hit .750 with six kills and no errors in eight attacks. SIU cut the lead to 25-24 with kills by Carrie Shephard and Jene' Pulliam and two UNI errors, but the Panthers went on a 5-1 run behind two Vermeer kills and three Saluki errors to win the game 30-25.
UNI jumped out to an early 13-5 lead in game two, before extended their advantage to 21-9 and 27-16. No. Iowa won the game easily 30-17 behind six kills from Rachel Tink and five more for Vermeer, who ended the first two games hitting .846 with 11 kills and no errors in 13 attempts.
The Panthers continued their strong play after the break, jumping out to a 21-6 lead and were never threatened in the 30-17 game three win. Tink had seven kills in the final game, bringing her total to a team-high 15 for the match. Vermeer added three more kills to reach her record-breaking performance.
Marissa Washington led SIU with eight kills and a .385 attack percentage (8K, 3E, 13TA). Haley Hann had seven kills and Pullium chipped in six for the Salukis.
SIU will wrap up its home season with Indiana State and Illinois State next weekend at Davies Gym.
