Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Drake
Volleyball loses five set fight at Drake
11/19/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
DES MOINES, Iowa - Southern Illinois put four players in double figures offensively, but a faulty second set and unforced errors down the line proved to be too much in the Salukis' five set loss (25-21, 16-25, 22-25, 25-23, 12-25) at Drake Friday night.
"Stat-wise, we looked good, and we did play a pretty good match," said head coach Brenda Winkeler. "We gave it a lot of effort and played hard, but in the end we beat ourselves."
Jennifer Berwanger led SIU (14-13, 5-12 MVC) with 16 kills, followed closely by Alicia Johnson (15), Alysia Mayes (11) and Jessica Whitehead (10), but SIU's nine service errors and 23 hitting errors kept it from pulling out the victory.
The two teams stayed in tandem throughout the first set. Southern scored three straight points to tie the score at eight on a block assist from Mayes and Rachael Brown. A Whitehead kill locked the score up again at 12 before SIU broke free on a service ace from Lauren Blumhorst at the 19-16 mark to force a Drake timeout. The Dawgs were able to see their advantage through to the end of the set, scoring on three of the last four plays to go up 1-0. As a team, SIU posted a solid .300 clip in the first set.
Southern started out strong in the second set, but as has been the case all year, the second period was its downfall. The Salukis jumped out to a 6-3 lead after three Bulldog errors and a Johnson kill, but after Drake broke a 10-10 tie it never looked back, putting together a six-point run en route to a decisive 25-16 win.
Drake carried its momentum straight through the break and into the third set, holding an early 9-5 lead. SIU fought back to regain the lead at 14-13 on a Berwanger kill. The battle continued and it looked like the Salukis would be the ones to come out on top, scoring five points on six plays, highlighted by blocks from Jasmine Conner, putting SIU on top 20-17. One more kill from Brown made the score 22-20 in Southern's favor, but three Saluki errors gave the set away.
Facing elimination from conference tournament contention, the Salukis turned up the intensity in the fourth. SIU went on an 8-2 run, and two Berwanger kills found its lead at 18-9. The Bulldogs clawed their way back to within three at 22-19, but Southern avenged its own errors to squeak by with a victory to tie the match at two.
Hitting errors kept SIU out of the fifth set, allowing Drake to take the contest right out from under the Salukis.
"We blocked well, we challenged them, and I thought we did that well. We just had too many errors when it came down to it," Winkeler said.
Defensively, SIU finished with 11 total blocks. Brown tied her career high with 18 digs, to go with 45 assists, while Berwanger and Johnson each added 13 digs and Bailey Yeager chipped in 11 at libero.
The Salukis are now out of the MVC Tournament race, but look to fight for a winning record tomorrow night at Creighton. SIU's final match of the 2010 season is set for 7 p.m. in Omaha, Neb.
