Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Bradley
Volleyball takes down Bradley in four sets
10/23/2009 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2009
By Shalae Patrick
www.SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois volleyball team handed Bradley its fifth-straight loss in four sets (23-25,26-24,25-23,25-23), leaving the Braves winless in Missouri Valley Conference play Friday night in Davies Gym.
BU started off the night with its first MVC set victory since Sept. 18 to put SIU in the hole.
"Bradley got some momentum early," Saluki head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "They took advantage of our little mistakes. We forget to do the little things and teams come back on us."
The Salukis (15-6, 4-6 MVC) had to come from behind and win its tightest match of the season over the Braves (9-15, 0-10 MVC) to begin the second-half of Valley play.
Southern hit .277 on the night with 21 errors in 159 attacks, out-performing Bradley in nearly every statistical category.
"We hit over .250 and out-dug them, but serving and passing hurt us," Winkeler added. "Defensively, we didn't do to bad. We had a big night from Alicia Johnson and Jennifer Berwanger. For the second-straight match we had a big night blocking from Jasmine Conner and had a good performance from Laura Thole."
Johnson led the Salukis with 19 kills, four assists and six digs, hitting .341 on the night with just five errors in 41 attacks. Berwanger recorded her 39th career double-double with 16 kills and a match-high 21 digs, hitting .342 with just three errors at the net.
Jasmine Conner and Laura Thole combined for one solo and 10 block assists, each adding seven kills and Thole posting 10 digs.
Setter Rachael Brown recorded a career-best 55 assists on the with six digs, two service aces and two block assists on the night.
Amy Reichel led the Braves with 16 kills, while Annie Cave came off the bench for 10.
The Salukis move from the bottom of the league to the top, hosting league-leading Northern Iowa Saturday at 7 p.m.
"UNI is very good," Winkeler said. "Maybe we won't feel any pressure about the win. There is really a no-lose situation there. They are at the top of the league and they are very good. We are going to have to be a lot crisper than we have been playing."
