Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
21-9, 11-4MVC
Evansville
5-24, 1-14MVC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Illinois | 25 | 25 | 23 | 20 | 15 | 3 |
| Evansville | 23 | 11 | 25 | 25 | 8 | 2 |
Salukis Outlast Purple Aces in Five Sets
11/12/2016 | 2:04:00 | Women's Volleyball
Perinar, Meeks have career nights in five-set win at Evansville.
The Southern Illinois volleyball team used a balanced offensive attack to outlast the Evansville Purple Aces, winning 3-2 (25-23, 25-11, 23-25, 20-25, 15-8) Friday at the Carson Center in Evansville, Ind.
Southern Illinois (21-9, 12-4 MVC) won the opening set, 25-23, and followed with a dominate performance to take set two, 25-11. Evansville (5-24, 1-14 MVC) came back to win set three, 25-23, and set four, 25-20, to force a decisive fifth set. The Salukis offense came out firing, posting a 15-8 victory to seal the win.
Four Salukis finished with double-digit kills led by a career-best tying 16 kills on .609 hitting from Kolby Meeks. Ginger Perinar finished with a career-high 15 kills on 32 swings and added three blocks, while Abby Barrow tallied 14 kills and six digs. Andrea Estrada notched her third-straight double-double, tallying 11 kills and 16 digs for her 43rd career double-double.
Estrada's seventh dig in the match, which came during the second set, marked the 1,000 of her career. The redshirt junior becomes the fourth Saluki with 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs, joining former Saluki standouts Jennifer Berwanger (2006-10), Mary Maxwell (1980-83), Marlo Moreland (1995-98) in that exclusive club.
Hannah Kaminsky dished out 35 assists to go along with 10 digs and three aces, while Alayna Martin added a career-best 27 assists to go along seven digs. Mariana Pilon chipped in 14 digs, four assists and an ace.
A kill by Kolby Meeks got the scoring started in set one. A Nellie Fredriksson kill tied the score at 2-2, and Estrada put SIU ahead 7-5 with a kill of her own. The Purple Aces clawed back, taking their largest lead of the set at 12-8 with Mildrelis Rodriquez serving to force a Saluki timeout. Following the timeout, SIU scored two-straight, including a kill by Barrow, to get to within two (12-10), but a kill by Rachel Tamm built Evansville's lead back to four (14-10). A kill by Perinar on a back set by Alayna Martin cut the Evansville advantage down to three, and a double block by Meeks and Barrow drew SIU to within one (14-13). The Purple Aces grew their lead back to four (19-15) on a service ace that forced Southern to take its second timeout. Back-to-back kills by Shannon Hagen and Estrada got the Salukis to within two and forced the Aces to take their first timeout. An error by Evansville got SIU to within one, 22-21 and Perinar's seventh kill of the opening frame gave SIU a 23-22 lead. The Channahon, Ill. native's eighth kill gave SIU the 25-23 set one win.
The Salukis identified a weakness in Evansville's block, as Kaminsky found Perinar on back-to-back kills to get SIU out and running to a 7-0 lead in set two. SIU led by as many as 11 (12-1), cruising to a 25-11 set two win by hitting .680, their second-highest hitting percentage in a set this season and not recording a hitting error.
Evansville, already eliminated from postseason play, began to play like a team with nothing to lose in front of their home faithful, taking sets three and four to force a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, Southern got out to an early 2-0 lead on kills by Meeks and Barrow. Evansville responded to tie the score, 2-2, before Barrow's second kill of the frame gave Southern a 3-2 edge. SIU stretched ahead to a three-point lead at the mid-set switch, 8-5 on an ace by Estrada. The Salukis grew their advantage to six, 11-5, and Barrow's fifth kill of the set gave SIU a 15-8 set five win.
Next up, The Salukis will host a reunion for all SIU volleyball alumni Nov. 18-19. The alumni reunion, which will correspond with senior night, will begin with pizza and drinks prior to Friday night's match against Wichita State (7 p.m.). The following day, alums are encouraged to take a tour of SIU's athletic facilities at 10 a.m., while tickets are available to Saturday's football game against Western Illinois (2 p.m.). Following the football game, the Salukis will take on first-place Missouri State at 7 p.m. inside Davies Gym on Senior Night. SIU will celebrate and honor its six seniors; Hannah Kaminsky, McKenzie Dorris, Mariana Pilon, Meg Viggars, Shannon Hagen and Yael Benjamin.
For those interested in attending please RSVP to Bryce Williams at 618-453-1803 by Wednesday, Nov. 16. In addition, all fans can get a $2 ticket to Saturday's match against Missouri State by presenting their ticket stub from Saturday's SIU football game. Â
