Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Wichita State
Wichita State tops Volleyball on Senior Night
11/13/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 13, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois produced a blazing second set but it was not enough to offset a powerful Wichita State team, as the Salukis fell to the Shockers, 25-18, 19-25, 25-17, 25-14 in the last home match at Davies Gym this season.
WSU has now taken the last 16 meetings with Southern, dating back to 2002.
"Wichita State is one of the top-30 teams in the country - they have a lot of weapons," head coach Brenda Winkeler commented. "Even though we faltered at the end there I thought we went in game-plan wise and did a pretty good job for the most part."
Prior to the match, Southern honored its four seniors who played their final match of their careers in Davies Gym - Jennifer Berwanger, Sydney Clark, Jasmine Conner and Alicia Johnson - and all four proved to be vital for SIU on Saturday.
Johnson posted a team-high 15 kills and 19 digs, while Berwanger threw down 12 kills to go along with 13 digs. Conner tallied 11 kills without an error in 21 attempts for a .524 clip, and Clark mixed in two key kills while maintaining Southern's balanced offensive attack.
The first set began in a tight race, as the two teams really traded points until the 13-10 mark when Wichita State pulled ahead and forced SIU to take a timeout. The Salukis answered with two points of their own from a Johnson kill and a Shocker error. WSU pushed ahead with four points in four plays to go up 18-13, and although SIU scored twice more, its errors at the end of the set gave the game to the Shockers.
Southern made the second period an interesting one, a set that changed hands six times before a winner was decided. Wichita State held an early lead at 7-5, but the Dawgs fought back to tie the score at seven, eight, nine and 10, all courtesy of kills from Southern's seniors.
SIU grabbed a steady two-point lead at 15-13 before it exploded for five of the next six points to go ahead 20-15 and cause a WSU timeout. The Shockers fended off one match point but could only come as close as four points to SIU before Johnson tied up the match with a kill heading into the break.
A key change in the second was the move of Bailey Yeager to libero, who strengthened Southern's defense and allowed the offense to run a little smoother than the opening set. Yeager finished the night with 10 digs.
"We have been struggling with our passing the past couple matches so we tried putting Bailey back there," Winkeler said. "That was a big switch for us."
Whatever momentum Southern had built up from that second set faded fast in the final two sets. SIU stayed with the Shockers to start the third but fell behind after four-straight Shocker points put the score at 9-5. The Salukis would be unable to hold an advantage for the remainder of the match, as Wichita State carried its lead out of the third and into a commanding fourth-set performance, in which the team that leads the Valley in opponent hitting percentage held SIU to .049.
"Wichita State hit really well, a .350 in that last set, and even though we had some hitting errors they got on offensively," said Winkeler. "We had to send them a lot of easy balls, and that just makes them a better team and it makes it difficult when they are hitting at that velocity.
"We were hoping to get the ball up and hoping it goes to the setter but sometimes that's a difficult task."
Saluki setter Rachael Brown finished with a double-double with 41 assists and 16 digs.
With the loss, Southern Illinois drops to 14-12 (5-11 MVC) on the year, posting an 8-5 record this season on its home floor. Wichita State improves to 20-5 (13-3 MVC).
The Salukis wrap up the final weekend of regular season competition, continuing to fight for a spot in the MVC tournament when they travel to Drake on Friday, Nov. 19 and Creighton on Saturday, Nov. 20. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.
