Volleyball to host Wichita State and Missouri State

Nov. 2, 2005

www.siusalukis.com

This Week
The Salukis are at home for the final weekend this regular season, hosting No. 23 Wichita State and Missouri State in Missouri Valley Conference action.

The Shockers are in town Friday, the Bears Saturday, following a meeting with Evansville Friday. Both games are at 7 p.m. in Davies Gym.

Last Week
The Salukis finished 2-1 in three-matches on the road last week, winning two straight for the first time all season. Tuesday the Salukis beat the Redbirds of Southeast Missouri State in five games. Marissa Washington led the Salukis with a career-best 19 kills, hitting .600 on the night with only 1 error in 30 attempts. Johannah Yutzy added 14 kills, while Katy DeWulf and Haley Hann added 11 apiece. Kristy Elswick posted 23 digs and Holly Marita recorded a double-double with 53 assists, 18 digs.

Friday the Salukis won their second in a row, beating Indiana State 3-1. Yutzy led all hitters with a career-high 22 kills. Elswick chipped in match-high 19 digs and Marita added 51 assists. SIU put up 22 blocks including eight from Washington and six from Yutzy.

Saturday Southern dropped a three-game set with Illinois State, 30-23, 30-21, 30-21. Kristie Berwanger put up a career-best 12 kills and Elswick added 13 digs.

The Shockers
No. 23 Wichita State is on a 21-match win streak dating back to Sept. 2 when they beat Ball State. Their two losses this season were to Stephen F. Austin and Michigan State. Fifteen of their wins have come in 3-0 sweeps, including the first meeting between the Shockers and the Salukis this season Oct. 8. WSU has taken six straight matches from the Salukis, leading the series 19-18.

The Shockers are led by Elizabeth Meyers and Jen Ray, who rank first and second in the league in hitting percentage at .427 and .405 respectively.

The Bears
Led by league-leading setter Ashley Warren and middle blocker Sabrina Apker, Missouri State is 16-8 on the season, ranked eighth in the nation in digs per game and 10th in the nation in assists per game.

The Bears have lost only two games in their last 12 contests to MVC's lone undefeated team, Wichita State, and UNI, in five games. MSU has taken two straight from the Salukis, who beat the Bears at Carbondale a year ago. MSU leads the series 26-14.

Salukis On The Radio
For the first time at Southern Illinois, volleyball games will be broadcast live from Davies Gym. All 11 of SIU's home games will be streamed on WIDB, SIU's only student-run radio station. Games can be heard on WIDB.net, www.siusalukis.com and via university cable channel 5 in the SIU dorms. Volleyball coverage on WIDB.net will include pre and post-game interviews with Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler and a weekly spot on WIDB The Revolution's Wednesday evening and Saturday morning sports shows. QuickTime Player is required to listen for all webcasts.

On The World Wide Web
Media, student-athletes and fans can access the most up-to-date information pertaining to Saluki Volleyball by visiting www.siusalukis.com. Features of the site include player and coach profiles, statistics, schedules, rosters, live stats and press releases.

Salukis Look Ahead
The Salukis return five starters from last year's young team that went 9-21 overall and 6-12 in league play. SIU lost just two seniors, including libero Erica Miller and middle blocker Carrie Shephard. The Salukis return 85 percent of their offense in 2005, including team-leaders in kills (Haley Hann, 318), kills per game (Jene' Pulliam, 2.83), hitting percentage (Marissa Washington, .304), assists (Holly Marita, 1,231) and service aces (Holly Marita, 26).

Picked 8th in Preseason Valley Coaches Poll
The Southern Illinois volleyball team was picked eighth in the 2005 Missouri Valley Conference preseason coaches poll. The Salukis had 28 points, six behind Evansville (36), who tied with SIU for seventh-place in the Valley in 2004. Defending regular season and tournament champion Wichita State was picked to repeat with 94 points and seven first-place votes.

Winkeler Takes Over At SIU
After five years as the head volleyball coach at Eastern Illinois, Brenda Winkeler took over as head coach for the Salukis in July. Winkeler became the sixth head coach in the 43-year history of Saluki volleyball. At Eastern, Winkeler posted an 82-72 record, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and share of the Ohio Valley Conference title in 2004. Winkeler takes over for 14-year head coach Sonya Locke, who resigned in the spring.

Winkeler No Stranger to Winning
Before taking the reigns at Eastern, Winkeler spent 11 years at Parkland Community College, winning three conference championships, and the 1999 NJCAA National Championship, her final season. Winkeler's junior college record was 428-164-9, making her a lock for the Division I level.

Pulliam Out With Injury
Outside hitter Jene' Pulliam who led the Salukis in kills per game (2.83) a year ago, is sidelined with back problems that have plagued her most of the season. She has missed the last three matches and it is uncertain when she will return. The junior, a mainstay in the lineup for the last two seasons, played in every match as a sophomore and missed only three games as a freshman.

Salukis All Aces
The Salukis recorded 14 service aces in a 3-0 sweep of Indiana State Oct. 1, including four from Haley Hann and three from Kristy Elswick. The tally ranks 13th all-time at SIU and first in the MVC this season in conference play.

Washington in the Books - Again
The Salukis' lone senior, Marissa Washington, led her team in hitting percentage in 2003 and 2004. Her .297 career hitting percentage is third all-time at SIU. Her .304 hitting percentage in 2004 ranks ninth in the Saluki record books. This season, Washington's .346 percentage ranks fifth in the MVC.

Attack Percentage1.  Sonya Locke  1979-82 .3202.  Lindsey Schultz  1999-02 .3113.  Marissa Washington    2002-pr.    .2974.  Britten Follett  1999-02 .2955.  Laura Pier  1995-98 .290

Lone Senior Records Career-highs
Washington recorded a career-best 19 kills against SEMO Tuesday, Oct. 25. She hit .600 in the match with just one error in 30 attempts adding two digs and six block assists.

At the Wildcat Classic Sept. 16-17, Washington recorded a .778 hitting percentage in a sweep of Brown (3-0), tallying 15 kills, 1 error in just 18 attempts. The mark is eighth all-time at SIU and ranks first in the Valley this season.

Marita Set-tles into the Books
Junior setter Holly Marita posted 53 assists in a five-game match Tuesday to bring her career total to 3,025, the third all-time assist mark at SIU. She passed Kim Golebiewski with 2,796 at a home match against Creighton, Oct. 15. Her 1, 231 assists during the 2004 season, ranks seventh-best for a single season assist mark. This season, Marita averages 10.84 assists per game in conference play, ranking fourth in the Valley.

Assists1.  Debbie Barr 1996-99 50572.  Lisa Cummins    1982-85 32493.  Holly Marita    2003-pr.    3025

Jo Hits With League's Best
Middle blocker Johannah Yutzy has posted double-digit kills in 14 matches this season. She hit over .400 in 10 of the 14 matches, averaging a .429 in the contests with 181 kills in 347 attempts and only 32 errors. Her .365 overall season total and her .368 conference mark rank third and fourth in the league respectively.

The junior was named to the Wildcat Classic All-Tournament Team Sept. 16-17. She helped her team to a 1-2 record on the weekend, highlighted by a 3-0 sweep of Brown. Yutzy was second on the team with 25 kills on the weekend including the first double-double of her career, a 12 kill, 10 dig effort, against Kentucky. She hit .274 on the weekend adding 13 digs and seven blocks.

Washington Named to Saluki Invitational All-Tournament Team
Senior middle blocker Marissa Washington was named to the 26th Saluki Invitational All-Tournament team for the second-straight year Sept. 9-10 after leading the Salukis in kills (21) and hitting (.395) percentage in two matches over the weekend. She posted 13 kills in a 3-2 loss to Missouri-Kansas City Sept. 9. She hit .522 on the night (13 kills, 1 error, 23 attacks). The following afternoon she came back post eight kills, four block assists and three digs along with a .250 hitting percentage (8 kills, 3 errors, 20 attempts). She averaged 2.62 kills, 1.00 block per game and a .395 hitting percentage over the weekend. She also added three digs and one assist on the tournament.

DeWulf Named to San Diego State Invite All-Tournament Team
Sophomore Katy DeWulf, moved from middle blocker to outside hitter this fall. The transition has been graceful for the 6-1 sophomore, who battled injury as a freshman. DeWulf is third on the team with 204 kills, averaging 2.55 kills per game. She was named to the San Diego State Invitational All-Tournament Team Sept. 2-3. She led the team in kills two of the three games. DeWulf is currently fourth on the team, hitting .156, adding 50 digs and 39 blocks in 23 matches.

Freshman Digging Way Into Record Books
Libero Kristy Elswick averages 4.72 digs per game overall and 5.17 digs per game during conference play to rank in the top five in the conference this season. She picked up 19 digs in a four-game set with Indiana State Friday and 13 digs in a three-game match with Illinois State Saturday to pick up 382 digs on the season, 5th all-time for a single-season dig tally at SIU, just eight digs away from fourth. She is also second on the team in service aces with 28, averaging 0.35 per game to rank sixth in the league. The freshman posts .939 reception percentage, with 37 errors in 609 attempts.

She has started all 23 Saluki matches this season, and is one of two Salukis to play in all 81 games. She led the team in digs in 21 matches. In a Missouri Valley Conference contest against Creighton, Elswick posted a career-high 32 digs, fourth in the Valley this season and fourth in SIU history for a single match tally.

Single-season Assists1.  Kristie Kemner    2002    5032.  Lori Simpson    1991    4763.  Erica Miller    2004    4624.  Joan Wallenberg 1987    3905.  Kristy Elswick    2005    382

Seeing Double
Setter Holly Marita currently leads the team with 27 career double-doubles as a setter (assists, digs). Marita picked up a triple double in 2003 against Iowa (10 kills, 51 assists, 12 digs).

Junior outside hitter Ashley Saverine currently leads the team with nine career double-doubles (kills, digs), recording her last double-double in 2004 against UMKC (16 kills, 11 digs).

Marita (27)     Last at SEMO (53 A, 18 D)Saverine (9)    Last vs. UMKC (16 K, 11 D)Pulliam (8) Last at Evansville (18K, 10 D)Hann (6)    Last at SEMO (11 K, 15 D)Washington (5)  Last at Bradley (10 K, 12 D)Laird (2)   Last vs. Georgetown (22 A 12 D)Yutzy (2)   Last at W. Illinois (14 K, 10 D)Hinsenkamp (1)   vs. Long Island (10 K, 10 D)

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