Saluki Volleyball hosts Missouri State on Saturday

Saturday, October 27

Carbondale, IL

7 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Missouri State University

10/26/2018 | 1:10:00 | Women's Volleyball

Game Notes VB vs. Mo. State

CARBONDALE, Il.. -- The Southern Illinois University volleyball team returns to Davies Gym Saturday to host travel partner Missouri State in a MVC clash. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The Salukis have a short turnaround, as they their final Monday match of the season on Oct. 29 at Loyola.

Promotions

Saturday's match marks the Saluki swimming and diving team's annual Saluki Strip. Not sure what that means? Watch the video below! Saturday is also Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night, so all SIU faculty and staff receive free admission!

Additional Media

Play-by-play announcer Connor Onion sat down with Keera Clarke to discuss this season, her mental preparation and more. Listen here.

All-Time Series vs. the Lady Bears

Missouri State leads the all-time series with the Salukis, 55-20. Missouri State has won four-straight, and six of the last seven meetings, in a rivalry that dates back to 1975. Southern's last win over Missouri State came on Sept. 26, 2016, when Southern rallied from a first-set loss to defeat the Lady Bears in five sets. 14 of Southern's 20 wins in the series have come on its home court, including a 3-2 win over Missouri State inside Davies Gym on Oct. 5, 2015.

Scouting the Lady Bears

Missouri State (11-12, 4-6 MVC) come into Saturday's match riding a three-match losing streak. The Lady Bears did push the first-place Northern Iowa Panthers to five sets, but lost in four at Bradley and were swept by the Redbirds on Oct. 20. Alemlia Flynn leads the Lady Bears with 3.19 kills per set and is second on the team in digs (209) while Emily Butters ranks third in the MVC in digs per set (5.14/set).

All-time series vs. Loyola

The Salukis and the Ramblers have split their 14 all-time meetings, 7-7, in a series that began 1984. The two teams met just four times prior to Loyola joining the MVC in 2013 with SIU winning three of four of those meetings. Since then, the Ramblers hold a 6-4 advantage. Loyola has won four-straight in the series, including sweeping the season series a year ago. Southern is 4-3 all-time at Loyola, with their last road win over the Ramblers coming in a 3-2 win on Oct. 30, 2015.

Scouting the Ramblers

The Ramblers snapped a five-match losing streak with wins last weekend over Indiana State and Evansville. The Ramblers sit at 13-9 overall and are 5-5 in conference play under first-year head coach Amanda Berkley. The Ramblers have five hitters with at least 100-kills, and two with over 200 in Quinn Spieker (242 kills) and Elle Van Grinsven (203). Delilah Wolf has handed the setting duties and had 856 assists while Lauren Caprini leads the Valley with 27 aces (.34/set). As a team, the Ramblers lead the MVC in blocks per set (2.55/set).

Defensive Spark

Keera Clarke received the starting nod at libero at Indiana State (10/6) and has started all of SIU's matches since. Clarke has dug out at least 10 balls in four of her five starts, including a career-best 21 digs at Illinois State. The Santa Monica, Calif. native leads the Salukis with a 3.07 digs per set average and leads Southern in the category during Missouri Valley Conference play with a 3.78 digs per set average.

Martin Making Her Mark

Alayna Martin continues to climb higher in SIU's record books for career assists. This past weekend she passed Dawn Thompson (1985-99) for 14th on SIU's all-time assists list and now sits at 1,336 career assists. The junior setter also tallied the 500th dig of her career on Saturday against Bradley.

Salukis At The Net

Southern's middles Patience Brown and Emma Baalman are leading the Saluki defensive effort at the net, as Brown's 54 total blocks are most on the team while Baalman's 53 total blocks rank second. Brown also leads the team with 10 solo blocks. Brown's eight blocks against CSUN (9/7) are tied for the most in a four-set match in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.

Freshman Contributing

Kat Wagner has been one of SIU's most consistent passers in the back row this season and has tallied 171 digs, the second-most on the team. She is just the 25th Saluki to record 150-plus digs as a freshman (since 1980) and she ranks 22nd for most digs by a freshman in school history. With 29 digs she can become the 20th Saluki freshman to reach 200 digs. The school record for digs by a freshman is held by Kristy Elswick, who dug out 481 balls as a first-year libero during the 2005 season.

Reached the century mark

With her three assists against Drake on Oct. 13, Marissa Rossi dished out her 100th assist of the season. It marks the third-straight season in which the Salukis have had a freshman dish out at least 100 assists and just the 10th time in school history (dating back to 1980) that a first-year has reached the century mark in assists.

Pocket aces

Alison Thomas is second on the Salukis with 14 aces, including four in her last five matches. She is also third on the team in digs (168).