Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Alabama
Volleyball bounces back to shutout Alabama
08/29/2010 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 29, 2010
By Dana Ingraham
SIUSalukis.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Southern Illinois volleyball team finished the University of Iowa Hawkeye Challenge the same way it started, putting together a quick turnaround from Saturday night's loss to sweep Alabama in three sets (26-24, 25-19, 25-23) Sunday morning.
The Salukis started off slow in the first set until a Sydney Clark kill spurred a three-point run to tie the score at seven. SIU (2-1) found itself down 18-12 at one point but an ace from Alicia Johnson brought Southern back to within three at 20-17. After two kills from Jennifer Berwanger and one from Jasmine Conner, the match was tied at 22 and the two teams traded points until the Salukis pulled away with a 26-24 victory courtesy of two Alabama errors.
"We talked a lot about having such a short time not only physically but mentally to come back from last night," said head coach Brenda Winkeler. "This weekend has been great practice for the MVC when we play teams like Wichita State and Missouri State and have a similar turnaround. Today we did a great job of coming out and getting the energy up, even when we came out flat."
SIU carried its momentum into the second set, jumping out to an early 4-1 lead. Johnson delivered two of her four aces to put the Salukis up 10-6, and Southern would never trail, putting Alabama (1-2) away at 25-19 on two Johnson kills.
The Crimson Tide did not go down without a fight, posting four straight points to start the third set. Calling upon its battle mentality from the night before, SIU fought back and took the lead for the first time at 12-11 on another kill from Johnson and would never relinquish its hold on the match. UA cut it to one at 23-22 but Southern closed the deal with a kill from Berwanger to win the final set.
"This was definitely a good win for us," Winkeler said. "We have a lot of season left and we are going up against a lot of good teams, but this is a big step for us towards being more confident in our abilities."
Southern out-hit Alabama .344 to .284, led by Berwanger who totaled 13 kills with just one error in 28 attacks. Johnson and Clark each had eight kills and Alysia Mayes chipped in seven. Rachael Brown put up 36 assists and Johnson and Bailey Yeager had eight digs apiece.
Mayes was strong at the net, posting two solo blocks and three of SIU's eight block-assists, helping force Alabama into 18 hitting errors.
Johnson and Brown were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts over the weekend.
SIU will travel to the east coast next weekend to participate in the UConn Toyota Classic. The tournament opens on Friday, Sept. 3 when Southern takes on Brown at 4 p.m. CT. The Salukis will play a double-header Saturday, Sept. 4, facing Hartford at 9 a.m. CT and Connecticut at 6:30 p.m. CT.
University of Iowa Hawkeye Challenge All-Tournament Team
Whitney Schott, Green Bay
Kelsey Anderson, Alabama
Alicia Johnson, Southern Illinois
Rachael Brown, Southern Illinois
Megan Eskew, Iowa
Becky Walters, Iowa
Best Libero: Bethany Yeager, Iowa
MVP: Mallory Husz, Iowa
