Volleyball Upended by UNI in four sets

Friday, October 12

Carbondale, IL

6 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

4-15, 0-6MVC

University of Northern Iowa

13-6, 7-0MVC

Northern Iowa

Southern Illinois

10/12/2018 | 9:12:00 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball team was clipped by visiting UNI, 3-1 in Missouri Valley Conference action Friday, Oct. 12 at Davies Gym.

The Salukis (4-16, 0-7) were led by Maggie Nedoma, who finished with 10 kills. The first-place Panthers (14-6, 8-0 MVC) were led by Karlie Taylor, who tallied a game-high 25 kills.

How it happened

• The Salukis used a 4-0 run with Keera Clarke at the service line to cut UNI's lead down to one, 11-10. The Panthers responded with a 6-1 run that effectively put the first set out of reach.
• Neither side led by more than three through the first half of the second set with the Panthers taking a 15-12 lead into the midway point. Not to be deterred, Southern continued to chip away at UNI's lead, and took its first lead of the set with Rachel Maguire at the service stripe. A Maguire ace cut UNI's lead to one, 21-20 and a Panther error tied the set, 21-all. After the two sides traded sideout points, the Salukis used a kill by Lindsey Paulsen and a UNI ball handling error to take set two, 25-23. It marked just the third set loss in conference play for the Panthers this season.
• The Panthers hit at a .704 clip in set three and held the Salukis to a .233 hitting percentage to take a 2-1 lead with a 25-10 set three win. UNI scored the first six points of the set and never trailed.
• UNI scored six of the first eight points of the fourth set. The Panthers maintained a seven-point lead at the midway point of the frame and led by as many as eight before Southern scored three-straight points, capped off by a double block by Malvis Ortiz and Paulsen to get to within five, 19-14. The Panthers scored six of the next 10 points in set four to seal a 3-1 win.

Inside the match

• Maggie Nedoma finished with 10 kills and two aces. It marked the 15th time this season that the sophomore from Brook Park, Ohio has recorded 10-plus kills.
• Patience Brown hit .462 with six kills on 13 swings. It is the fourth time this season that the 2017 All-MVC second team selection has hit over .400 in a match and the first time since she hit a career-high .529 in a 3-0 sweep of Alabama A&M on Aug. 31.
Keera Clarke got her second-straight start at libero and had several highlight-worthy digs to help the Salukis keep the ball off the floor. Clarke finished with a team-high 11 digs and now has four double-digit dig performances this season.
• Alayna Martin finished a dig shy of a double-double, as the junior setter dished out 19 assists to go along with nine digs. Marissa Rossi, SIU's second setter in it's 6-2 offense, added 12 assists and three digs.
• Junior middle hitter Lindsey Paulsen played in her fifth-straight match and set a new career-best with four blocks, which included her fifth solo block of the season.

Coach's Take

"To take a set off Northern Iowa with the year they are having is a good thing. I'm happy with that. I thought we kept our composure but we didn't pass as well as we did against Indiana State, so I'm a little disappointed in that because it limited what our offense could do. The way we played in the second set shows us where we need to get better. Thats the most important thing we can take from this match- what we did well and how we can keep improving to get better." - Head Coach Kari Thompson

Up Next

The Salukis are back at Davies Gym on Saturday, Oct. 13 to take on the Drake Bulldogs. First serve is set for 7 p.m.