Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
17-9, 8-4MVC
Loyola
11-14, 6-6MVC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola Chicago | 25 | 16 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Southern Illinois | 23 | 25 | 20 | 22 | 1 |
SIU Falls to Loyola in Four
10/28/2016 | 11:26:00 | Women's Volleyball
Salukis suffer first conference loss at home this season.
CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois volleyball team dropped a Missouri Valley Conference match in Davies Gym for the first time this season, falling 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22) to the Loyola Ramblers Friday night.
Abby Barrow led the SIU offense with 11 kills – one of two Salukis to reach double figures on the night. Alex Rosignol hit .333 to finish with 10 kills and added eight total blocks.
Following Barrow's lead, Andrea Estrada totaled nine kills to go along with 14 digs, while Ginger Perinar added seven kills.
All but one Saluki recorded a dig in the contest, as SIU was forced into playing defense. Libero Mariana Pilon led the back row with 15 digs.
Making her collegiate debut, Alayna Martin finished with 18 assists, three digs and one ace. Martin was replacing senior Meg Viggars in the lineup, who is out with a hand injury.
"I thought Alayna came in there and did a good job for a true freshman who hasn't really set much in her career prior to tonight," fifth-year head coach Justin Ingram said. "I thought she added some good things from the service line and was pretty good within her set choices and set locations.
SIU took a 2-0 lead early in set one on back-to-back kills by Rosignol. The Ramblers countered with a 4-0 run to take a 4-2 lead, with Rosignol's third kill of the set breaking up the run and drawing SIU to within one at 4-3. A kill by Barrow gave SIU the first three-point advantage of the set at 12-9, and Pilon served the Salukis to a 5-0 run and a 17-9 lead. The lead remained seven after Rosignol's sixth kill of the opening frame made it 20-13 in favor of the home team. The Ramblers began to claw their way back, however, as they cut the deficit down to three when a Saluki ball handling error made it 22-19. From there, Loyola closed the set on a 6-1 run to take set one, 25-23.
The Salukis again got out to a 2-0 lead in set two, and went ahead 6-3 on a kill by Kolby Meeks. The Ramblers answered with a 3-0 spurt to tie the score at 6-6, and the score remained tied until an attack error by Loyola gave SIU a 12-11 lead. Southern grew its advantage to four (16-12) on a kill by Estrada, and later increased their lead to five (20-15) on a Loyola error. From there, the Salukis closed on a 5-1 run to claim set two, 25-16. SIU hit .333 for the set while holding the Ramblers to .000 hitting.
It was the Ramblers turn to get out to an early 2-0 lead in set three, and grew their lead to 4-1 on one of Gabi Maciagowski's match-high 22 kills. The two sides traded points from there, with a kill by Barrow knotting the score, 10-10. The Ramblers continued to capitalize on Saluki mistakes, taking a 14-11 on a pair of SIU errors. SIU was forced to play catch up, getting to within one (16-15) on a Loyola error, but that was as close as they could get as the Ramblers took set three, 25-20.
The fourth set featured nine ties and five lead changes, with neither side taking more than a two-point advantage until a double block by the Ramblers made it 22-19 in favor of the visitors. The Salukis sided out with a kill by Estrada to get the deficit back to two, but could get no closer as Loyola won the set, 25-22 and secured their sixth conference win of the season.
"This is a match you look back and you go, 'dog gone it, Loyola played really good'," Ingram said. "And we didn't play as well. I thought we got timid and either tipped or off-speed some balls that they were taking big swings at."
Prior to Friday night's defeat, SIU's last loss at home in MVC play came at the hands of Loyola on Oct. 3, 2015. The loss snapped a 12-match home conference winning streak.
"We have to prepare differently (going into tomorrow's match)," Ingram said. "Looking into the future is far better than hanging your head and feeling bad about yourself. I don't think it was that kind of game. We have to do better. We have to play harder. Loyola had great scrappy defensive plays and we had fewer of those. We have to look at it as we have to do better tomorrow. It's a mindset, a mentality and we have to follow our words up with actions and prepare ourselves for battle with Bradley."
The Salukis will host the Bradley Braves tomorrow at 7 p.m. inside Davies Gym.
