Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Wichita State
Volleyball hosts Wichita State, Missouri State to Close Out Regular Season
11/17/2016 | 3:12:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The Salukis will close out the 2016 regular season with a pair of pivotal Missouri Valley Conference contests. Friday night, SIU will host second-place Wichita State at 7 p.m., and the Salukis will host the first-place Missouri State Bears on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.Â
Friday night's match will be streamed live on The Valley on ESPN3, while live stats are available for both matches here.
Promotions
Friday night is SIU's "White Out" match. Fans are encouraged to wear white, while a limited number of fans can come early to the match and get a free white t-shirts, compliments of Saluki Athletics. The t-shirts will be given away on a first come, first serve basis and supplies are limited. Sizes may also vary, and there is a limit of one t-shirt per person.
Head coach Justin Ingram will also be honored following Friday night's national anthem, as he won his 100th career match at SIU.
On Saturday, the Salukis will take on first-place Missouri State at 7 p.m. inside Davies Gym for Senior Night. SIU will celebrate and honor its six seniors following the match; Hannah Kaminsky, McKenzie Dorris, Mariana Pilon, Meg Viggars, Shannon Hagen and Yael Benjamin. In addition, all fans can get a $2 ticket to Saturday's match by presenting their ticket stub from Saturday's SIU football game.
The Opponents
• Wichita State (20-7, 13-3) comes in riding a five-match winning streak of their own, and lead the overall series against the Salukis, 40-21, including a three-set victory over SIU earlier this season. Last season, Southern swept the season series from the Shockers for the first time since 1995, with their three-set sweep at home a year ago the first sweep of Wichita State by the Salukis since 2001.
• Missouri State (23-7, 14-2) boasts some of the highest profile wins of any MVC school this season, as the Bears beat No. 14 Illinois in five sets on Aug. 27 before defeating No. 12 Ohio State in five sets on Sept. 9. SIU defeated Missouri State in five-sets on Sept. 26, beating the Bears for the first time since Nov. 14, 2014. It's also the last match that MSU has lost this season, as they come into Davies riding a 14-match win streak. Saturday's matchup will mark the 72nd time the two schools have tangled on the court, with the Bears holding a 51-20 advantage over the Salukis.
Game Notes
• Andrea Estrada tallied 16 digs in SIU's win over Evansville, giving her 1,009 for her career. The Bogota, Colombia native, who became SIU's 14th member of the 1,000-kill club earlier this season, is now just the fourth Saluki to have both 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. The redshirt junior joins former Saluki standouts Jennifer Berwanger (2006-10), Mary Maxwell (1980-83), Marlo Moreland (1995-98) in that exclusive club.
• Estrada ranks 10th in school history in digs, and needs just three digs to pass Beth Diehl (1992-95) for ninth all-time. She can pass Marlo Moreland (1995-98) and move into eighth place on the list with eight digs this weekend.
• The Salukis have clinched a berth to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the fifth-consecutive season, the longest such streak for SIU since the MVC was formed in 1993. Prior to fifth-year head coach Justin Ingram's arrival in 2012, the Salukis had made the Valley tournament a total of six times since '93, and had only once done so in back-to-back seasons.
• SIU has hit .400 or better in 19 sets this season, and boast a 16-3 record in those sets. In the last eight seasons combined the Salukis have a .963 winning percentage (106-4) in sets in which they hit .400 or better, including a stretch from 2009-2014 in which SIU won 66-straight sets that they hit .400 or better in. The Salukis have a 75-4 (.949) set record when hitting .400 or better under head coach Justin Ingram.
• Head coach Justin Ingram won his 100th career match while at SIU, and he did so in historically fast fashion. It took Ingram just 156 matches to reach the century mark, which not only makes him the fastest to reach 100 wins in school history, but its the second-fastest mark amongst current Valley coaches. Only Bobbi Petersen at UNI reached 100 wins at their current school faster, doing so in 117 matches. Petersen inherited a squad went 29-5 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, whereas Ingram took over a program coming off a 9-18 record.
Bobbi Petersen (UNI)- 117 matches to reach 100 (100-17/.854)
Justin Ingram (SIU)- 156 matches to reach 100 (100-56/.641)
Melissa Stokes (Missouri St.)- 164 to reach 100 (100-64/.610)
Chris Lamb (WSU)- 170 matches to reach 100 (100-70/.588)
Melissa Myers (ISU) 184 matches to reach 100 (100-84/.543)
Traci Dahl-Skinner (Indiana St.)- 268 matches to reach 100 (100-168/.373)
• Hannah Kaminsky will pass former teammate Taylor Pippen for fifth on SIU's all-time matches played list, as both are currently tied with 122. Kaminsky will move into a tie with Darlene Hogue (1982-85) for fourth all-time against Missouri State. The Woodridge, Ill. native is already second in school history in total sets played with 461.
• Mariana Pilon needs just two digs to reach 900 for her career while Kaminsky sits at 957 for her career, needing 43 digs to join Meg Viggars and Donnie Barr as Saluki setters with at least 2,000 assists and 1,000 career digs.
• Nellie Fredriksson notched the 200th block assist of her career in the win over Evansville.
• The latest NCAA RPI report for the 2016 season has been released and the Valley has four teams featured in the top-60. Wichita State leads the league at No. 37, while UNI (No. 45), Missouri State (No. 47), and Southern Illinois (No. 57) are also among the nation's top-60. The Valley is one of seven leagues to have four or more teams in the RPI's top-60, joining the AAC (4), ACC (6), Big 12 (6), Big 10 (11), Pac 12 (8), and SEC (4).
• The Valley is one of only three leagues to have four or more teams sitting at 20 or more wins this season. Missouri State (23), UNI (21), Southern Illinois (21) and Wichita State (20) each meet the milestone, joining the ACC (5 of 15 teams, .333) and Big 10 (5 of 14 teams, .357) in the exclusive club. Â
