Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Bradley
Volleyball picks up first MVC win at Bradley
10/01/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 1, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
PEORIA, Ill. - The Southern Illinois volleyball team snapped a three-match winless drought Friday night with a decisive 3-0 shutout at Bradley, 25-20, 25-16, 25-12, for its first conference victory of the season.
"We played very well tonight, but most importantly we played consistent," said head coach Brenda Winkeler. "We played very hard, blocked well, and passed a little better than we have been."
SIU (10-4, 1-3 MVC) was on-point in just about every aspect of the game, out-hitting Bradley .372 to .082 as well as posting 43 digs to BU's 35. The Salukis have out-hit their opponents in all 10 of their wins this season.
Southern garnered huge performances in the middle from Alysia Mayes who posted a career-high .588 hitting percentage with 11 kills and four block-assists, and on the outside by Jessica Whitehead who also finished with her own career-high nine kills.
Jennifer Berwanger led both teams with 12 kills and Alicia Johnson chipped in nine, sparked by Rachael Brown's 37 assists. Laura Thole, seeing some time at libero, guided the Saluki defense with 14 digs, while Bailey Yeager tallied 11.
In the first set, SIU led 3-0 but did not really break free of the Braves until they went ahead 19-17 on a service ace from Brown. Two consecutive kills by Whitehead put the Dawgs at set point before a Mayes kill earned Southern its first set victory in conference play.
"Jessica Whitehead stepped in for us on the outside tonight and had a great match, hitting .529," Winkeler said. "That was the difference tonight - if we were getting off-system we had multiple offensive options that we were able to use."
With Southern ahead 9-6 in the second set, Berwanger and Johnson put down two kills apiece as SIU scored five straight points to go ahead 14-6. The Salukis had another scoring run at the 19-8 mark, aided by Bradley errors and big plays from Mayes in the middle. It was Johnson that put the second period away with two kills in the last three plays, giving SIU a comfortable 2-0 lead heading into the break.
The third set was all Southern, all the time, as the Salukis led the entire way, by as many as 13. The match was reminiscent of the Salukis that handled quality non-conference opponents in a similar manner earlier this season.
"It feels good to finally get this first conference win under our belt," Winkeler said. "It's a relief to play well again, and I felt that we would because we had a great week of practice. Now we go into the Northern Iowa match focused and hoping we can pull off the upset."
SIU will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, for its prime-time matchup with No. 15 Northern Iowa at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
