Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
SIUE
Volleyball holds off SIUE rally for five-set win
09/27/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 27, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois volleyball team gave up a 2-0 lead but found a way to hold off SIU Edwardsville in five sets Tuesday night at Davies Gym.
The Salukis (7-6, 1-3 Missouri Valley Conference) took the first two sets 25-21, 25-21 only to watch the Cougars (7-10, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference) come back to take sets three and four 25-16, 25-23. Southern took care of business in the fifth, however, with a convincing 15-7 win to take their final non-conference match of the regular season.
"It was definitely an up and down night," said SIU head coach Brenda Winkeler. "We gave them too many easy balls. That was the biggest things in sets three and four. You can't give any team that kind of ball."
The Salukis grinded out solid wins in the first two sets behind an efficient offense that registered 31 kills on a .220 hitting percentage. The Salukis dipped to a -.028 clip on nine kills in the third set before barely cracking .100 with 12 kills in the fourth.
Winkeler said some of the team's struggles revolved around sophomore outside hitter Jessica Whitehead's sore knee. An offensive catalyst for the Salukis who killed 17 or more balls in each of the previous three games, Whitehead wasn't at 100 percent against the Cougars.
"Jess Whitehead, who usually provides us with the most kills was limping around a little bit with her knee," Winkeler said. "I think the team saw that and we had to look other places for kills."
Junior middle blocker Alysia Mayes filled the void with a career-best 20 kills on a .444 hitting percentage.
"Coach told us that they were going to be a smaller team, so just hit high and not try to bang balls," Mayes said. "I went with that and it was successful."
Elly Braaten also provided the team with some timely offense with four kills in the final set, including the Salukis' last three points of the match. Braaten said the team knew it had to pick up the intensity in the final frame to avoid the Cougar comeback.
"Popping it over to the libero obviously wasn't going to do it for us," Braaten said. "I was just trying to go at it aggressively. Going at it aggressively really changed it around for us."
Despite the sore knee, Whitehead finished the match with 13 kills, while junior outside hitter Laura Thole had a double-double with 13 kills and 19 digs. Junior setter Rachael Brown also had a double-double with 53 assists and 20 digs while junior libero Bailey Yeager led the team with 22 digs.
The Salukis will turn back to MVC action Friday as Evansville comes to Davies Gym for SIU's annual Dig for the Cure match.
