Southern Illinois University
Liberty (San Diego St. Invitational)
Volleyball burns Flames, 3-0
09/03/2005 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2005
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Sophomore outside hitter Katy DeWulf led all hitters with a career-high 12 kills, five digs and two block assists as Southern Illinois picked up its first win of the young season, sweeping Liberty 3-0 Saturday afternoon in Peterson Gym at the San Diego State Invitational.
The Salukis (1-2) pulled out a tight first game 37-35 over the Flames, taking that momentum into the final two games of the match (30-23, 30-24) to give first-year head coach Brenda Winkeler her first Saluki victory.
"We learned a lot about our team this weekend," Winkeler said. "We found out that our weakness is ball control, and that's something we'll come home and definitely work on before next weekend. Today our communication was a little better and we definitely blocked better."
Three SIU hitters recorded double digit kills in the win. Along with DeWulf, juniors Jene' Pulliam and Johannah Yutzy each had 10 kills, five digs. Yutzy hit a game-high .643 (10 kills, 1 error, 14 attacks) and a team-high .550 for the tournament averaging 3.11 kills per game.
Senior Marissa Washington led the team with six block assists against the Flames. The middle blocker also added nine kills, while setter Holly Marita led the team with 25 assists and two aces. Freshman libero Kristy Elswick posted a game-high 11 digs and two aces.
"For Kristy, this weekend was her first time out as a collegiate athlete and she struggled at first," Winkeler said. "She's got a lot of responsibility as a freshman and now that she's played a few games, she's relaxing a lot more."
Winkeler saw a lot of good things come from the two-day tournament, especially from Yutzy and DeWulf, who led the Saluki offense all weekend. DeWulf, who battled injury a year ago as a redshirt freshman, has bounced back and moved to the outside from middle blocker.
"I was really impressed with Jo (Yutzy) and Katy (DeWulf)," Winkeler said. "They were solid all weekend. These matches were Katy's first on the outside and she did a great job."
Southern opens play at home Sept. 9-10 when they host the 26th Saluki Invitational. The Salukis will play UMKC Friday at 7 p.m. and Arkansas State Saturday at 4 p.m. Friday's game will be broadcast live at WIDB.net or live stats can be found on gametracker at www.siusalukis.com.
