Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Illinois State
Volleyball falls to Illinois State at home
10/02/2009 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 2, 2009
By Shalae Patrick
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois volleyball team fell at home to Illinois State Friday night in front of the second-largest crowd in school history. The Redbirds (7-9, 2-3 MVC) took down the Salukis (12-2, 2-2 MVC), 3-1 (24-26,26-24,25-23,25-20) in Missouri Valley Conference play at Davies Gym.
"We out-played them in every category statistically it should have been a win," Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "We made errors at inopportune times."
The Salukis out-hit the Redbirds .204 to .193, out-digging them 68-to-64 and out-blocking them 8.0 team blocks to 7.0 in front of a crowd of 703 on "Pack the House" night.
SIU came out swinging in the first set, hitting a match-high .344, but couldn't keep the momentum in its favor.
"We came out of timeouts serving balls out of bounds and making receiving errors," Winkeler said. "We just made key errors at the wrong time to give them the momentum and they are a good team, they counter-attacked and made it count. We gave them too many easy balls offensively."
Junior outside hitter Jennifer Berwanger led the Salukis with a double-double recording 15 kills and 15 digs. Freshman outside hitter Laura Thole added 10 kills and nine digs.
Junior right side hitter Alicia Johnson posted 12 digs, eight kills and two block assists, while senior right side hitter Kelsie Laughlin stepped in at libero for the night posting 15 digs for the defense.
Freshman setter Rachael Brown led the SIU offense with 48 assists, eight digs and two block assists.
ILS was led by Mallory Leggett with 18 kills and 13 digs, while Tabitha Visk added 16 kills, four digs and three block assists for the Redbirds.
SIU dropped its 13th-straight match to ILS, falling for the 36th consecutive time in regular-season action.
The Salukis return to action Saturday, hosting Indiana State in MVC action at 7 p.m. in Davies Gym.
