2017 Saluki Volleyball Season Preview

Photo by: Will Becque

08/11/2017 | 9:24:00 | Women's Volleyball

Nine Salukis return from last year's squad, including four of their top-five hitters

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The 2017 Saluki volleyball season is officially underway, as the Salukis have begun their first week of practice under first-year head coach Kari Thompson.

Thompson was hired from North Dakota State this past May to replace Justin Ingram, who left Carbondale after five seasons for the University of Illinois-Chicago. Thompson led the Bison to a pair of NCAA Tournament berths during her seven seasons as head coach, and amassed a 102-98 career record, including a 66-38 mark in conference play.

With under three months to prepare for the 2017 season when she was hired, Thompson acted quickly. She filled out her coaching staff, hiring Lea Hartigan and Justin Wells. She also finalized SIU's schedule and shored up Southern's recruiting class, inking a pair of transfers in Alysa Sutton and Patience Brown.

After a hectic and whirlwind first three months on the job, Thompson is excited to finally be on the court with her new team.

"It feels awesome to finally get started and be in the gym with our student-athletes," said Thompson. "The first couple of sessions are a lot of learning, both ways. They're learning about my coaching style, and I'm learning about them and what they're capable of."

Offensively, Southern should look similar to the fast-paced, quick-set, offense that Saluki fans have been accustomed to while Thompson and her staff continue to focus on and emphasize defense.

"Offensively we're going to be very similar (to last year)," said Thompson. "We have a young setter still so that will take some breaking into and we have a lot of new faces. We also have strong returners who will be the leaders of our team and I'm also excited to see what the new, fresh faces can do out there. I think defense will be an area where you will see the biggest difference."

The Salukis return nine from a year ago, including six seniors. Of those nine, four of SIU's top-five attackers are back, led by Andrea Estrada and Abby Barrow. Estrada, a two-time All-MVC honoree, returns for her final collegiate season after she became the fourth Saluki in school history to amass 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs as a junior. Barrow, a two-time MVC Scholar Athlete team selection, returns for her senior campaign needing just 146 kills to become the 15th Saluki to join the 1,000 kill club.

Nellie Fredriksson, Kolby Meeks, Ashley Edelen and Gabriella Shepherd round out Southern's senior class. Fredriksson has over 500 career kills in her three seasons and has played in 95 matches during her Saluki career. Meeks had the best hitting percentage last season of any Saluki returner, as she posted a .369 hitting efficiency and finished behind only Estrada and Barrow for the team lead in kills. Edelen, meanwhile, played in every match last season and tallied a career-best 208 digs while Shepherd has served as Southern's SAAC representative and is a team leader despite having yet to get on the court during her three seasons.

"We're going to look to our six seniors a lot," said Thompson. "They won't necessarily all be captains, but they will all be leaders. You look at the experience that Andrea brings to the team, she's been here going on five years. Abby is a great leader, and what they've done on the court together has been impressive. We have leadership at a lot of positions. Nellie is in charge on the right side, Kolby is the leader in the middle while Gab (Shepherd) and Ashley have done a nice job as leaders of our defensive players."

The Salukis return three sophomores, Alayna Martin, Lindsey Paulsen and Emma Baalman. Of the three, Martin gained the most experience last season after she handled the setting duties during Southern's final nine matches due to an injury to Meg Viggars. Martin tallied 131 assists (4.23/set) and 41 digs during her 31 sets while Paulsen and Baalman will push for playing time in their second seasons as Salukis.

SIU also added eight talented newcomers, which includes a pair of transfers after the departure of Alex Rosignol to the University of Pittsburgh and Ginger Perinar to the University of Alabama. Alysa Sutton played in all 28 matches as a freshman outside at Eastern Michigan and put down 10-plus kills in eight of those matches. Patience Brown, a junior middle who comes to SIU by way of Akron, started and played in all 28 matches for the Zips and finished second on the team with 242 kills.

"Patience Brown is a middle who is really athletic," said Thompson. "She should compete for a starting role as her athleticism and experience playing at Akron for two years should definitely help her. Alysa Sutton is one we looked to when Ginger left and she adds more experience and even more depth on the outside."

The freshmen class will compete for playing time at all positions, with Keera Clarke and Alison Thomas pushing for time on the back row as defensive specialists. Hannah Becker and Maggie Nedoma will both vie for playing time outside of the pins, while Ysabel Lee adds depth in the middle and Rachel Maguire provides Southern with a setter that can also hit.

The Salukis open the 2017 season on Aug 25-26 at the Western Kentucky Invitational. Southern plays five matches against teams who went to the NCAA Tournament a year ago and nine teams that finished with top-100 RPIs. This season will also see the return of a second, 64-team postseason tournament in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. A tournament in the same vein as college basketball's National Invitational Tournament, the NIVC initally ran from 1989-1995 and returns to give student-athletes an additional opportunity to extend their seasons in a championship atmosphere. The organization published a hypothetical 2016 bracket based on last season's results that would have seen SIU take on I-64 rival Saint Louis, with a potential trip to the University of Illinois on the line.