Southern Illinois University
Northern Iowa
Volleyball falls to Northern Iowa, 3-0
09/30/2006 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 30, 2006
By Shalae Schulte
www.siusalukis.com
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Southern Illinois volleyball team was held to .000 at the net by a Northern Iowa team that hit .281, sweeping the Salukis Saturday night in Missouri Valley Conference play at the West Gym (30-20, 30-16, 30-18).
The Panthers, 12-6 on the season and 4-1 in the MVC, remain unbeaten at home by SIU, now 8-8 and 3-3 in The Valley, since 1985, holding up a winning streak over the Salukis dating back to 1993.
"In games one and three we kept it close and at one point were tied," Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "But we just didn't play our game against a good team. Our ball control struggled and we just couldn't get it going."
The Salukis posted just 27 kills to the Panthers' 44, adding 27 attack errors to make their offensive total .000.
"They are big. They blocked us well," Winkeler said of the number one blocking team in the conference that posted 10.0 total team blocks to the Salukis' 7.0.
"The bright spot on the night was that our young kids played well," Winkeler added.
Freshman Chandra Roberson recorded five kills to go with her two solo and four block assists, while Kelsie Laughlin, also a freshman, added a match-high 11 digs along with Saluki libero Kristy Elswick, also with 11.
Kristie Berwanger led the Salukis with seven kills, while Haley Hann added six.
Laura Rowen led UNI with a match-high 12 kills, while setter Kristin Belzung recorded 35 assists.
"We will definitely pick up the intensity this week in practice to get us ready for the weekend," Winkeler said.
The Salukis will return to Carbondale for Homecoming weekend to face Missouri State Friday and Wichita State Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m. in Davies Gym.
