Southern Illinois University
Dayton
Volleyball drops two matches day two of Flyer Classic
08/26/2006 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 26, 2006
www.siusalukis.com
DAYTON, Ohio - The Southern Illinois volleyball team came away with a 1-2 match record after the first tournament of the year. The Salukis won their first game of the season for the first time since 2002 Friday afternoon in the first game of the Flyer Classic against IUPUI, but turned around to drop six straight games and two matches to tournament host Dayton and Youngstown State Saturday.
A balanced attack from a veteran Dayton team swept Southern Illinois, 3-0, Saturday morning in the Salukis' second game of the tournament, while lack of ball control made the difference in a 3-0 loss to YSU in the afternoon at the Frericks Center.
"Our ball control was non-existent and as a result we couldn't use our middle attack," Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "We just had too many unforced errors."
Saluki senior Johannah Yutzy was a bright spot of the Flyer Classic, named to the all-tournament team. The senior led SIU with 38 kills and just 10 errors, hitting .418 on the weekend. She also added one block solo and 10 block assists averaging 3.80 kills and 1.10 blocks in three games.
"Yutzy played consistent this weekend," Winkeler added. "We look to her for leadership on the court. She hit well."
The Salukis made some errors that proved costly against the defending Atlantic-10 West champion Flyers, hitting just .106 with 29 attack errors against the host team's 12 Saturday morning.
Yutzy led all hitters with 13 kills, while fellow senior Haley Hann added 10.
Sophomore libero Kristy Elswick tied a career-best and school-record 28 digs in a three-game match for SIU. Freshman Kelsie Laughlin added 6 kills, 16 digs, while Chandra Roberson added six kills, two block solos and two block assists in the loss.
The Salukis out-hit Youngstown State in the final game of the tournament, 42 kills to 38, but recorded 10 receiving errors and 10 service errors that proved to be a factor in the outcome of a couple close games, 31-29, 30-26, 30-22.
Yutzy again led the Saluki attack, along with Laughlin with 10 kills each. Yutzy added two block assists, while Laughlin recorded 10 digs for the first double-double of her career. Setter Erika Bartruff added 29 assists in the match.
Defensively, Elswick led all players with 20 digs, while freshman Jennifer Berwanger added 10 digs.
"All the freshmen played well for their first weekend of college play," Winkeler said. "Now that they have a few matches behind them, they can calm down and play their games."
Next up for SIU is a trip to Wyoming for the Cowgirl Classic Sept. 1-2. The team will face host Wyoming at 12 p.m. and New Orleans at 6 p.m. Friday. The Salukis will then turn around to face Birmingham-Southern Saturday at 6 p.m.
