Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Iowa
Volleyball comes up short against Iowa in five
08/28/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Southern Illinois captured an early lead but was unable to hold on against Big Ten foe Iowa, falling in five sets (25-23, 25-22, 29-31, 19-25, 15-17) on the Hawkeyes' home floor Saturday night.
The match was tight from set one, when the two teams were locked at 20 before the Salukis (1-1) pulled away for the win with the last two points coming at the hands of Alysia Mayes who served up a kill and an ace to put SIU ahead, 1-0.
Rachael Brown dished out 10 assists in the second stanza and Alicia Johnson tallied four of her team-high 15 kills to give Southern the two-set advantage over Iowa (2-0) heading into the third set.
What turned out to be a wild third set would be the turning point in the match. SIU tied it at 21 on a Jasmine Conner kill before going point-for-point with the Hawkeyes until Iowa came away with its first victory of the night at 31-29 on two Saluki errors.
"The third set was a tough one for us to win, we really battled and I am proud of the way we played," head coach Brenda Winkeler said. "They were a little bigger at the net and our offense got a little stagnant. We got a little off our system and they started giving the ball to their middles and it came down to the battle of ball control."
Iowa's middle blockers Mallory Husz and Becky Walters stand at 6'0" and 6'3" and combined for 41 of their team's 63 kills.
The Hawkeyes put the fourth set just out of SIU reach before breaking out to a 5-0 lead to start the fifth and final set. Southern made it back to within three at 10-7 after back-to-back kills from Mayes, and fought back to tie the score at 13 before eventually falling, 17-15.
"I'm really proud of our team and how we came back in the fifth set," Winkeler said. "We stuck our noses in and battled back the way we needed to. We had a few errors at the end but overall I am proud of the way they played. You never want to lose, but tonight was a great challenge and these are things we need to do to contend in the MVC."
SIU had five players with double-digit kills, and Johnson and Jennifer Berwanger both posted double-doubles with 13 and 21 digs. Brown ended with 49 assists, just six shy of her career high. Lauren Blumhorst led the defense with 24 digs.
Southern will return to the court tomorrow for its final game of the Hawkeye Challenge, taking on SEC opponent Alabama at 11:30 a.m. The Crimson Tide fell to Iowa, 3-1, Friday night before shutting out Green Bay, 3-0, Saturday afternoon.
