Regular season opens this week for Saluki Volleyball

08/24/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Volleyball

Aug. 24, 2015

By Elizabeth Robinson
SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Saluki volleyball team officially begins the regular season this week with the team's first competition starting Friday at the UCF/Holiday Inn Express Tournament in Orlando, Fla.

On Saturday the team concluded its preseason camp with its second and final scrimmage of the season, drawing large crowds including the SIU football team that played in a scrimmage earlier in the day. With a preview of the energy from the Davies Crazies, the Salukis converted the high-energy atmosphere to consistent play.

"You're going to get immediate adrenaline from any crowd that's that engaging," head coach Justin Ingram said. "Once the excitement kind of levels out, that's when the true form shows, and I thought we were pretty good as far as our energy level and our response to situations that were developing on the court."

Following two weeks of preseason camp, the Salukis are set to enter the season with a strong corps of competitors at each position, particularly on defense. After losing graduated senior libero Alex Rivera, the Salukis have filled the void with a talented set of liberos in Mariana Pilon, Tara Routliffe and Ashley Edelen. A starting libero has not been selected for this weekend's matches, but according to Ingram, the position will likely see changes and fluidity throughout the season due to the talent across the board.

"The number of digs is so numerous at this point, so the defensive side has been very good at keeping the rally alive," Ingram said. "We're seeing this as an asset for the team and the ability to stay in more games and rallies than we have in the past."

With more digs means more opportunities for setters and attackers to make plays this season. Senior Taylor Pippen returns with a league-leading attack efficiency, coming in at .410 last season to rank 11th nationally. Pippen finished the 2014 season with the second-most attacks for the Salukis, averaging 2.57 per set just behind Andrea Estrada who led the team with 2.85 per set.

Estrada returns with her laser kills this season, coming off preseason with a renewed energy and aggression in her attacks.

"Andrea has been heating up, and as preseason concluded she was as good as we've ever seen her," Ingram said. "She's scoring a lot, she's not missing a lot and she's getting the opponent out of system a lot. She can't play soft, she needs to be the enforcer."

Along with Pippen and Estrada, sophomores Abby Barrow and Alex Rosignol could be key players this season, according to Ingram. Last year Barrow became an impact player near the end of the season, finishing with 223 kills for an average of 2.14 per set. Barrow led the Salukis in their postseason match-up against Missouri State last year with a .278 attack efficiency, earning herself a spot on the 2014 All-Tournament team.

Rosignol's contributions come from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Last season she finished 10th in hitting efficiency within the MVC at .308 and led in blocks within the Valley with an average of 1.26 per set.

Juniors Hannah Kaminsky and Meg Viggars will once again be primary setters for the Salukis, distributing the ball to both sides of the net with a hastened speed that was implemented in the team's camp.

With preseason play under their belts, the Salukis move forward into regular season play, taking on Delaware, Northern Colorado and Central Florida in this weekend's tournament. SIU has faced Northern Colorado and Central Florida twice each, but has never seen Delaware. The Salukis last faced Northern Colorado in 1982 and Central Florida in 1992.

"In the first week, everybody knows very little about each other, so you just have to lace ‘em up and get out there," Ingram said. "It's a tricky, scary and fun thing all at once because all the games count the same."

SIU will start the weekend against Delaware on Friday at 9 a.m., followed by Northern Colorado and Central Florida on Saturday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively. Check back at SIUSalukis.com later this week for a full preview of this weekend's action.