Southern Illinoise University Athletics
SIU Volleyball Hosts Dig Pink Match, Loyola and Bradley
10/27/2016 | 10:25:00 | Women's Volleyball
The Salukis are 8-1 at home and currently one game back of first place in The Valley.
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois University volleyball team (17-8, 8-3 MVC) returns to Davies Gym this weekend for an eventful homestand in which it hosts the Loyola Ramblers and the Bradley Braves. The Salukis will tangle with the Ramblers (10-14, 5-6) Friday at 7 p.m., before taking on the Braves (7-15, 2-9) Saturday night at 7 p.m.
PROMOTIONS
The Salukis will hold their annual Dig Pink match on Friday and encourage all fans to wear pink in honor of breast cancer awareness. Southern will also be signing autographs following Friday's match where fans can get posters and Salukis merchandise autographed by the players and staff. Free "Dig for the Cure" signs will also be available, while supplies last.
Saturday's match is Halloween in Davies Gym, and fans who wish to participate are encouraged to come dressed in full costume and trick-or-treat for candy.
THE OPPONENTS
• Loyola comes into Friday's match losers of three of its last four, including back-to-back losses to Indiana State and Illinois State. The Ramblers handed the Salukis their first conference loss of the season on Oct. 1, winning, 3-1 (25-23,25-20,23-25,25-21). Loyola outhit SIU, .336-to-.282, but are just 2-5 since that victory. The Ramblers have a pair of hitters averaging three or more kills per set in Morgan Reardon (3.47 kills per set) and Gabi Maciagowski (3.21 per set). SIU leads the all-time series, 7-4, and are 4-3 against Loyola since LU joined the Valley prior to the 2013 season.
• Bradley snapped its six-match losing streak on Saturday, Oct. 22 with a four-set win over Indiana State. The Braves have still lost 11 of their last 13, including a sweep at the hands of the Salukis on Sept. 30. First-year head coach Carol Price-Torok's squad is led offensively by Erica Haslag, who is averaging 3.44 kills and 2.64 digs per set. Haslag is joined by middle Kelsey Cave, who's hitting .324 and averaging .84 blocks per set. As for the all-time series, the Braves and the Salukis will meet for the 62nd time since 1975, with SIU leading the all-time series, 43-18, including a 22-9 record against the Braves on their home court. Southern has won six-straight over Bradley, and are 8-2 against the Braves under head coach Justin Ingram.
QUICK SETS
• Abby Barrow needs two kills for 800 on her career, as she sits at 798.
• SIU ranks in the top-25 nationally in several categories, including team assists (12th, 1,186), team kills (18th, 1,241), and team total blocks (22nd, 225.5).
• Alex Rosignol leads the conference with a 1.15 blocks per set average. She's also cracked the top-25 nationally in hitting percentage, as she's currently hitting .391, which is the 24th-best efficiency in NCAA D1. Fellow middle hitter Kolby Meeks isn't far behind, as she's hitting .383 and is ranked 30th.
• Andrea Estrada became the 14th Saluki to reach the 1,000-kill plateau, and just the fifth to do so as a junior, in Friday's win over the Drake Bulldogs. The Bogota, Colombia native is also the fifth active MVC player to reach 1,000 kills. With a team-best 10 kills against UNI Saturday night, the Preseason All-MVC selection moved into 13th all-time in school history with 1,016 career kills.
• Meg Viggars is the only current NCAA DI player with 2,000 assists/1,000 digs/800 kills. Corrine Bain of Harvard will almost certainly join Viggars, as she has 2,147 assists/1,008 digs and needs just eight kills to become the second. However, the Stoke-on-Trent, England native will still be the only active D1 player with over 800 kills/2,000 assists/1,000 digs/300 blocks in a career.
• Staying with Viggars, the two-time All-MVC selection tallied her 10th career triple-double in the 3-1 win over Drake Friday, as she finished with 10 kills, 35 assists and 12 digs. The Stoke-on-Trent, England native is the first student-athlete from the Missouri Valley Conference this season to record a triple-double, and the 21st in all of NCAA Division I to do so.
