Volleyball Rolls Past Bradley

Saturday, October 29

Carbondale, Ill.

7:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

18-9, 9-4MVC

Bradley

7-17, 2-11MVC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Bradley	16	12	17	0
Southern Illinois	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Madison Case

10/29/2016 | 10:38:00 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Southern Illinois volleyball team picked up its fourth sweep of the Missouri Valley Conference season over the Bradley Braves, 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-17) inside Davies Gym on Saturday night to move to 18-9, 9-4 on the season.

The Salukis rebounded after dropping a four-set decision to Loyola Friday night, and did so in dominate fashion, hitting .345 for the match and siding out 78% of the time, their highest sideout percentage in a conference match this year. SIU also held Bradley to a .094 hitting percentage, marking the third time this season the Salukis have held an opponent under a .100 hitting efficiency.

"To rebound and do something more positive the day after a loss, we're ecstatic," fifth-year head coach Justin Ingram said. "There were some great performances tonight."

Junior Abby Barrow led the way for the Salukis with 14 kills on .367 hitting, while junior Nellie Fredriksson finished with 11 kills and hit at a .500 clip. It marks the third time in four matches that Barrow has tallied double-digit kills, and the 13th time she's done so this season.

"I thought Nellie had a great match, and Abby had a couple errors late in the third set but before that she was error-less going into the third set," Ingram said. "Abby needed to rebound, she has another level that she didn't hit last night, but she's gaining some strides."

Redshirt junior Andrea Estrada totaled eight kills on 19 swings complimented by 16 digs. The Bogota, Colombia native hit .368, her highest hitting efficiency in eight matches. Junior middles Kolby Meeks and Alex Rosignol each chipped in six kills, with Rosignol hitting .556 and putting down her first four attacks.

Senior Mariana Pilon led the back row, finishing with a match-high 19 digs to go along with three assists. Fellow senior Hannah Kaminsky dished out 26 assists and added seven digs, while freshman Alayna Martin tallied 18 assists and seven digs.

Back-to-back kills by freshman Ginger Perinar staked Southern to a 6-4 lead in the opening frame. After a kill by Bradley's Erica Haslag tied the score at 7-7, the Salukis went to work, opening a five-point lead on back-to-back kills by Barrow to make it 19-14 and force Bradley to use its first timeout. SIU built its lead to seven (22-15) on kills by Rosignol and Barrow before the Braves took their second timeout of the set. From there, the Salukis got another kill by Rosignol and one from Barrow, coupled with a Bradley error to take set one, 25-16. Rosignol hit 1.000 during the frame, putting down all four of her attempts.

Set two was one of SIU's most complete of the season, as they hit .500, held Bradley to .176 hitting and sided out on all 12 of the Braves' serves. Shannon Hagen's first kill of the match put SIU ahead 7-4 and forced Bradley to use its first timeout. SIU pushed Bradley to use its second timeout when it went ahead 13-8 on a kill by Fredrikkson. Southern grew its advantage to seven (16-9) highlighted by back-to-back kills by Estrada, and cruised from there to a 25-12 set two win.

I don't know that we've ever sided out at a 100% in a set before," Ingram said. "That's fantastic. That's a testament to our passers, to our setters and of course, the attack at the end."

SIU didn't waste any time building a lead in set three, getting out to a quick 6-0 with Kaminsky at the service line. The Salukis continued to add to their lead, going ahead 10-1 with back-to-back blocks by Rosignol. The Braves called their second timeout and got to within six, 14-8, before SIU called its first timeout of the set. Bradley cut the deficit down to five, 16-11 before a sideout kill by Hagen pushed Southern's lead back to six (17-11) and a Bradley hitting error grew SIU's advantage to seven. Fredriksson's 11th kill of the match made it 22-14, and Estrada put the icing on the cake with an emphatic kill on match point.

The Salukis return to action on Friday, Nov. 4 when they travel to Illinois State to take on the Redbirds. First serve is set for 7 p.m.