Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Tulane
Volleyball sweeps Tulane, wins tournament title
09/03/2011 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2011
By Bill Ford
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois volleyball team was named co-champion of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic and junior Laura Thole was named tournament MVP after the Salukis swept host Tulane Saturday in New Orleans.
The tournament was shortened because of the threat of severe weather stemming from Tropical Storm Lee. Since each of the four teams competing finished 1-1, Southern (3-2) and San Diego State (4-1) were named co-champions based on aggregate sets won and lost.
The Salukis rebounded from a frustrating five-set loss to William & Mary the previous night to play their best match of the season against the Green Wave (3-2). Southern hit for a season-best percentage of .340 and kept unforced errors to a minimum.
"We talked about it in the locker room -- yesterday was gone," said SIU head coach Brenda Winkeler. "We needed to work better as a team no matter if people were on or off."
The Saluki offense, which had been suspect for SIU to start the year, clicked against Tulane. Southern set the tone early by scoring 19 points on kills in the opening set, led by sophomore Jess Whitehead's nine kills.
"Our passes weren't necessarily better than last night, but we were doing a much better job on second contact," Winkeler said.
The Salukis took advantage of 10 attacking errors by the Green Wave in the second set while hitting for a match-high .417 percentage for a 15-point win. Southern carried the momentum into the final frame, scoring 15 more points on kills with a .323 hitting clip to secure the win.
"We definitely played within the system," Winkeler said. "We had a system set up to defend the things Tulane does offensively. We defended and blocked the things that they did well and that was really the key."
Thole finished the match with 14 kills on a season-best .312 hitting percentage to go along with nine digs. Her total of 31 kills and 20 digs in New Orleans resulted in her second all-tournament nod of the young season.
"Laura is a six rotation player. She plays every position for us and she is getting used to that role on the team," Winkeler said. "The biggest thing today was the fact Jess Whitehead and Alysia Mayes did a great job of stepping up and taking some of the pressure off her offensively."
Whitehead finished the match with 14 kills and a season-best .345 hitting percentage while Mayes added seven kills and five total blocks with a career-best hitting percentage of .636. Mayes was also named to the All-Tournament Team after tallying a combined 19 kills and 12 total blocks in the tournament.
Junior Setter Rachael Brown dished up 32 assists against Tulane and sophomore Caitlin Schumacher added 14 digs in her first match as the Salukis' libero.
SIU will open their home season by hosting the 32nd Saluki Invitational presented by Hampton Inn September 9-10 at SIU Arena. The tournament will mark the first volleyball matches played in the Arena since the early 1980s.
All-Tournament Team
Laura Thole, Southern Illinois (MVP)
Alysia Mayes, Southern Illinois
Paije Pearson, San Diego State
Johnna Fouch, San Diego State
Cori Martone, Tulane
Celine Alasomuka, William & Mary
