Southern Illinois University
Bradley
Volleyball blanks Bradley, 3-0
10/21/2005 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 21, 2005
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois volleyball team came up big with a 3-0 sweep of Bradley in Missouri Valley Conference play Friday in Davies Gym. The word "team" was greatly stressed as all players hit over .220 for a season-high .348 on the night.
"We've been having intense practices all week," Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "I kept telling them that one of these days we're going to get everybody on the same track and that when we did we were going to win a big game. Tonight everybody played together."
SIU held BU's Lindsay Stalzer, the sixth-ranked hitter in the country, to 11 kills on the night. Averaging 5.60 kills per game this season, Southern held the three-time All-MVC pick to under four kills per game.
"What we wanted to do was get to Stalzer," Winkeler said. "We wanted to box her in and let everyone else try and beat us. We wanted to stop her early and make her have a bad night and that's exactly what we did and that made us successful."
The Salukis (7-12, 4-6) out-played the Braves (11-11, 4-6) in every category, out-hitting Bradley .348 to .112, tallying 21 more kills, 14 more assists, 10 more service aces, 15 more kills and three more blocks than the Braves who are on a five-game losing skid.
Saluki setter Holly Marita tried out a new jump serve that worked effectively. In game two, the junior served 14 straight, including five service aces, giving the Dawgs a cushy 30-13 win.
Marita's tally ties a career-high for the junior, who added 42 assists and two blocks.
"I think we came out and executed our game plan and they got frustrated," Marita said. "Our plan tonight was to stop Stalzer. When your main player doesn't play well, the rest of the team usually follows. It was a total team effort."
Katy DeWulf led all hitters with a career-best 13 kills, adding six digs, two aces and two blocks.
Middle blockers Johannah Yutzy and Marissa Washington each hit over .500 with 10 and 12 kills respectively. The duo added six digs and five blocks. Haley Hann added eight kills, nine digs and two blocks, while freshman Kristy Elswick posted a game-high 28 digs, first in conference play this season in a three-game match and eighth all-time at SIU.
"Our preparation for the game really helped us," Yutzy said. "We knew their hitters really well and our defense was on, we were able to get our passes up. We really played with heart and that pushed us a lot tonight."
SIU will face Northern Iowa Saturday at 7 p.m. in Davies Gym. The Panthers have taken 25 straight victories from the Salukis, who haven't won the match up since 1993.
