Saluki Volleyball opens 2018 season at Cardinal Classic

Friday, August 24

Louisville, KY

9:30 a.m.

Southern Illinois University

IUPUI

Photo by: Michael Black

08/23/2018 | 8:55:00 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes (PDF)

The Southern Illinois University volleyball team will open the 2018 season in Louisville, Ky. for the Cardinal Classic. The Salukis will take on IUPUI Friday at 10:30 a.m. before facing Louisville at 7:30 p.m. Southern will conclude the weekend with a match against UT Martin on Saturday at 2 p.m.

IUPUI is coming off a season in which they went 16-14 and advanced to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). The Jaguars lost to MVC foe Illinois State, 3-0, in the first round of the NIVC.

The Louisville Cardinals went 24-7 and defeated Syracuse, 3-2, in the ACC Tournament title match. With the win, Louisville earned it's 26th NCAA Tournament appearance where they fell to Northern Iowa in the first round.

UT Martin is coming off an 11-18 season in 2017, with it's 11 wins the most for the program since 2011. The Skyhawks return three starters plus the libero from last year's squad and were recently picked to finish 11th in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll.

Season Openers
The Salukis are 26-18 all-time in season openers. Southern has won two of the it's last three season debuts, with last year's loss to Western Kentucky the only blemish during that stretch.

All-time vs. Opponents
SIU will open against IUPUI, with Friday's matchup marking the fourth time that the two programs have met. Southern holds a 3-0 all-time record vs. IUPUI. The Salukis defeated the Jaguars, 3-1 to take home the IUPUI Tournament title on Aug. 27, 2016. This marks the second time that the two programs have met at a neutral site- the Salukis defeated the Jaguars in four sets at the Flyer Classic on Aug. 25, 2006.

SIU and Louisville have split their previous 10 meetings, 5-5, in a series that dates back to 1975. The Cardinals come in riding a three-match winning streak in the series, with their most recent win coming in 1993. SIU's last win in the series came in 1985, a 3-0 sweep of Louisville on Oct. 18, while Southern's last win at Louisville came the year before, a 3-2 win on Oct. 18, 1984.

Southern is 12-3 all-time vs. UT Martin and have won three-straight over the Skyhawks. SIU's last loss in the series came in 2011, a 3-2 loss in Starksville, Miss., which was also the last time the two sides met on a neutral floor.

200-plus kills as a freshman
Maggie Nedoma played in 28 of SIU's 29 matches during her freshman campaign and racked up exactly 200 kills. It marked the first time since 2014, and just the 13th time in program history dating back to 1980, that a Saluki freshman has put down 200-plus kills.

Assists by a freshman
Rachel Maguire dished out 468 assists and added 214 digs in 29 matches during her freshman season. Her 468 assists were the fourth-most by a freshman in program history and the most by a first-year since 2013. Only Debbie Barr (1433, 1996), Hannah Kaminsky (1194, 2013) and Holly Marita (978, 2003) tallied more assists during their respective freshman seasons than Maguire. Her 214 digs, meanwhile, made her the 19th Saluki freshman to notch 200-plus digs and the first to accomplish the feat since Tara Routliffe in 2015.

Brown back in the middle
The Southern Illinois Salukis returns three starters from a year ago, including All-MVC Second Team selection Patience Brown. The senior middle hitter hit at a .292 clip a year ago, as she led the Salukis in blocks (.85/set) and finished second on the team in kills (2.09/set).

Special connection
Rachel Maguire and Patience Brown are both from Bloomington, Ill., played travel volleyball together growing up and have a special bond on the court. Consider- of Brown's 170 kills last season in which an assist was recorded on, nearly 63% (107) came off a set by Maguire. In back-to-back wins over Valparaiso (9/25) and Evansville (9/29), Maguire and Brown connected for 23 kills, including 13 in Southern's 3-1 win over the Crusaders.

Both Setters Return
After a 2017 season in which SIU returned just 11% of their assists from the year prior due to graduation, the 2018 Salukis bring back 90% of their assists from a year ago in setters Alayna Martin and Rachel Maguire. Martin led the team with 621 assists while Maguire tallied 468 in Southern's 6-2 offense.

2018 Schedule
In addition to the grind that is the MVC's double round-robin schedule, Southern Illinois will play a challenging non-conference slate in 2018. The Salukis will play nine matches against teams that advanced to postseason play a year ago, including the National Runner-Up Florida Gators.

Lots of New Faces
Southern added 10 newcomers in the offseason, of which eight are freshman and two are transfers. The 20-person roster is the largest for the Salukis in the NCAA-era (since 1982) and their eight freshmen are the third-most in school history. Only the 2003 (11) and 2013 (9) Salukis had more first-years on their opening day rosters. The 2013 Salukis went 20-13 and advanced to the MVC Championship match.