SIU falls 3-1 at Northern Iowa

Saturday, October 22

Cedar Falls, Iowa

7:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

17-8 (8-3MVC)

Northern Iowa

17-7 (8-3MVC)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Southern Illinois	14	15	25	16	1
Northern Iowa	25	25	20	25	3

Photo by: Madison Case

10/22/2016 | 9:35:00 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Southern Illinois volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-14, 25-15, 20-25, 25-16) to Northern Iowa on Saturday night at the McLeod Center.

With the loss, the Salukis fall to 17-8 on the season and 8-3 in MVC action, while the Panthers improved to 17-7 and 8-3 in conference play.

With a team-best 10 kills Saturday night, redshirt junior Andrea Estrada moved into 13^th all-time in school history with 1,016 career kills.

Eight different Salukis recorded a kill, led by Estrada. Senior Shannon Hagen hit .300 with nine kills, while freshman Ginger Perinar and junior Alex Rosignol each had eight kills. Senior Hannah Kaminsky had a season-high four kills to go along with 34 assists and six digs, while Mariana Pilon had a team-high 17 digs.

The match began with both teams trading points. A kill by Estrada and an error by the Panthers tied the score, 4-4. The Panthers ripped off a 6-0 run before Estrada's second kill broke the run and made it 10-5. Northern Iowa continued to score in bunches, growing its lead to 15-6 on an ace by Amie Held. The Salukis got to within seven on a kill by Perinar, but that was as close as they could get.

In the second set, SIU finished with 10 kills, but it also committed eight errors to just three by the Panthers and that proved to be the difference. The Salukis got to within seven on an ace by Estrada late at 21-14, but the Panthers scored the next three points to open a 10-point advantage and went on to win the set.

The Salukis looked more like themselves in set three, as they hit .323 and had 14 kills while holding the Panthers to a .091 hitting efficiency. Back-to-back kills by Estrada made it 4-2 in favor of the visitors before the Panthers sided out to draw to within one. It was SIU's turn to score in bunches, as they ripped off six-straight points, including three-straight aces by Estrada that gave the Salukis their largest lead of the set at 10-3. The Panthers clawed back, eventually tying the score, 17-17 on a kill by Held. The Salukis immediately sided out on the next UNI serve, and grew their lead back to five (22-17) with Estrada at the service line.

The Panthers got out to an 11-6 lead in the fourth and continued to lead 13-9. A kill and a block by Rosignol cut the lead to one, but UNI stretched its lead out to 18-13 as SIU called timeout. A kill by Perinar made it 19-14, but the Panthers never relinquished their lead and went on to secure the match with a 25-16 win.

The Salukis return to action Friday (Oct. 28) when they host Loyola at 7 p.m., at Davies Gymnasium.