Volleyball alone atop the MVC standings after win over Illinois State

Saturday, October 8

Carbondale, Ill.

7:00 PM

Southern Illinois University

15-6, 6-1MVC

Illinois State

12-7, 5-2MVC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Illinois State	17	19	25	18	1
Southern Illinois	25	25	19	25	3

Volleyball alone atop the MVC standings after win over Illinois State

10/08/2016 | 11:41:00 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Southern Illinois volleyball team moved into sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 3-1 win over Illinois State Saturday inside Davies Gymnasium.

Scores of the match in favor of SIU were 25-17, 25-19, 19-25, 25-18.

"So far so good," SIU head coach Justin Ingram said about his team moving into first place. "It's a long season. We would like to end (the season) in first place. That's the goal. To be in first at some point in the season is great, but we know it's a long season and a brutal Valley schedule so we're just trying to plug away and do our part and keep getting better."

Going into the match, the Salukis knew that to have success against the Redbirds they were not only going to need to contain Jaelyn Keen and Aly Dawson, but to also serve and serve receive at a high level.

We knew we needed to contain (Keen and Dawson), and to try and slow them down a bit," Ingram said. "It started with our serve. We had three sets of solid serving. It felt like we were getting them out of system enough that they were taking swings that they didn't want to take. On the flip side of that, our reception was pretty good for three sets as well."

The Saluki back row of Mariana Pilon, Andrea Estrada and Ashley Edelen were able to receive ISU's serve and pass to target for much of the match, allowing SIU's offense to stay in system. Pilon tallied a team-best 17 digs while Edelen added nine digs and Estrada finished with eight kills and seven digs.

"We were able to serve it tough, defend at a high level, touch a lot of balls that were attacked and get digs off those touches," Ingram said. "I cant count how many balls we touched and were able to pursue. I think those were huge plays for us."

The Salukis recorded nine total blocks and countless more touches, with SIU's middles Kolby Meeks and Alex Rosignol providing a strong net presence. Meeks hit .562 with 10 kills and four block assists while Rosignol put down seven kills on .583 hitting with two solo blocks and three block assists.

Meg Viggars finished with nine kills, 23 assists and six digs, and Hannah Kaminsky dished 25 assists and added 16 digs while helping set her offense to .265 hitting.

Southern hit .250 to take the first set, 25-17. Mariana Pilon served up an early 5-0 run to help SIU build a 13-8 lead. After the Redbirds closed the gap to one, 16-15, the Salukis came out of a timeout and quickly pushed their advantage back to four (19-15). Illinois State cut the deficit to two with back-to-back points, but the Salukis closed on a 6-0 run with Estrada at the service line to win the first frame.

The two sides again traded sideout points to open the second set in a frame that featured 15 ties and three lead changes. With the Redbirds leading 15-14, Pilon served the Salukis to an 8-0 run, including a pair of aces that gave SIU a lead it never surrendered.

With the score tied 17-17 in set three, the Redbirds rattled off seven-straight points to build a lead that proved insurmountable for the Dawgs.

SIU scored the first three points of set four, growing their lead to eight, 15-7, on a Redbird attack error. Illinois State got to within six, but that was as close as they could get.

The Salukis hit the road to take on the Wichita State Shockers at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10. First serve is set for 7 p.m.