Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
San Diego State (San Diego St. Invitational)
Volleyball loses to San Diego State, 3-0
09/03/2005 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 2, 2005
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Southern Illinois volleyball team dropped three straight to San Diego State Friday night. The Aztecs took advantage of their home court, beating the Salukis 30-21, 30-24, 30-25 in Peterson Gym the final match of the day at the San Diego State Invitational.
The Saluki (0-2) were led by outside hitter Katy DeWulf. The sophomore tallied a career-high 11 kills, while hitting .381 on the night.
Jene' Pulliam and Johannah Yutzy also contributed eight kills apiece, while junior Monica Laird tallied 18 assists. Freshman Kristy Elswick and junior Haley Hann each added eight digs.
"I felt really good about our second match today," Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "It was very encouraging to see the improvement from the first match."
SIU was plagued by poor ball control Friday afternoon, losing to UC-Riverside in their season-opener.
Despite being held blockless in the first match of the season, the Salukis tallied 10 block assists and one solo block in the nightcap, including three block assists and one solo block from lone senior Marissa Washington.
"Our defense wasn't where we want it to be, so that is definitely something we need to work on," Winkeler said. "We have a freshman in the middle of the court on ball control and now that she's gotten her first collegiate match behind her, we can work on improving. When we have better ball control we can get the ball to our hitters more and that will make a difference."
New faces in the Saluki offense shone brightly today with Yutzy and DeWulf each leading the team in kills one match each. Yutzy is hitting .500 through the first two games of the season, with 18 kills on 26 attempts and five errors, while DeWulf leads the team with 19 kills.
"If we can play some better defense," Winkeler said, "we can bounce back tomorrow."
The Salukis play Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CST against Liberty, who dropped matches to the Aztecs and Missouri Valley Conference foe Creighton Friday. Live stats available on gametracker at www.siusalukis.com.
