Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
6-1
Murray State
3-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray State | 22 | 20 | 18 | 0 |
| Southern Illinois | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Salukis improve to 6-1 with sweep of Murray State
09/06/2016 | 11:08:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois volleyball team improved to 6-1 on the season with a straight-sets win over Murray State, winning by set scores of 25-22, 25-20, 25-18 inside Davies Gym.
Southern improves to 14-0 all-time against Murray State at home, and have now won eight-straight over the Racers. The Salukis hit a season-best .314, notching 47 kills with just 15 errors.
"Our attack was good," said SIU head coach Justin Ingram. "Our attack, on average, was around 31%. The second set was a little bit off, but we hit .400 and .406 with 18 and 17 kills (in sets one and three). And we did so against a pretty scrappy and very competitive team defensively. We knew what they were about. They have two very talented left side hitters, and a ton of sets were going to go to those two."
Murray State's Scottie Ingram, who came into the match averaging 5.04 kills per set, was limited to almost a kill and a half less than that (3.67) while tallying a match-high nine errors for a .054 hitting percentage. The Saluki block, led by outside hitter Shannon Hagen and middle Kolby Meeks, made it difficult for Ingram and the Racer hitters, totaling 11.0 blocks.
"Shannon was very good tonight," Ingram said. "She was a big force out there on the right side, hitting both line and some pretty powerful shots. I feel good about the job Shannon did on Scottie Ingram and I thought Kolby (Meeks) came in and did a nice job from the beginning."
Hagen set career highs in both kills and efficiency, finishing with 13 kills on 18 attempts with just one error for a .667 efficiency. Meeks, meanwhile, tallied a season-best nine kills and added five block assists.
Southern also had the added benefit of having faced the Racers during spring ball, with the deep bomb serve of Murray State giving the Salukis considerable trouble. Today was a different story, as outside hitter Andrea Estrada and libero Mariana Pilon handled much of the first ball passes, helping the Salukis post a 70% sideout percentage and allowing SIU to stay in system.
"We handled (Murray State's serves) much better today, credit to our passers for keeping us in two point pass, where we can set two hitters," Ingram said.
Estrada finished with nine digs and six kills, while Pilon tallied a team-best 12 digs.
The first set was a back and forth affair, with neither team taking more than a one point lead until a double block by Meeks and Meg Viggars gave SIU a 20-18 advantage. The Racers quickly got back to within one at 20-19, and again trimmed the lead back to a point at 23-22 courtesy of a kill by Rachel Giustino. The Salukis sided out on the ensuing serve with a kill by Hagen, and Alex Rosignol staked SIU to a 1-0 set score lead with a kill of her own on set point.
It was Murray State who got out to an early lead in set two, jumping out to a 6-3 lead. After back-to-back points by the Dawgs, the Racers answered with a three-serve run to stretch their lead to four, 9-5. Southern continued to chip away, taking their first lead of the set, 17-16 on back-to-back service aces by Rosignol. The Salukis never surrendered that lead and went on to win 25-20.
Southern led by as many as 10 in the third set, going ahead 21-11 on a kill by Viggars. Murray State got to within six with a service ace of their own, but that was as close as they could get.
The Salukis return to the court on Friday for the Western Kentucky Invitational. Southern will open against the hosts on Friday at 1 p.m., before taking on Michigan State (11 a.m.) and Cincinnati (3 p.m.) on Saturday.
