Salukis split on day one of A-State Invitational

Friday, September 14

Jonesboro, AR

10:30 a.m.

Southern Illinois University

4-7

Jackson State University

1-9

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Southern Illinois	25	25	25	3
Jackson State	14	13	17	0

09/14/2018 | 11:23:00 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

The Southern Illinois University volleyball team split on day one of the A-State Invitational. The Salukis (4-8) defeated Jackson State (1-9) in straight-sets (25-14, 25-13, 25-17) in their opener before dropping a five-set battle to Arkansas State (17-25, 27-25, 22-25, 25-22, 4-15) in the nightcap.

Inside the match: Jackson State

* The Salukis opened the match on a 4-0 run but the Tigers countered with a 5-1 spurt that tied the match at 5-all. The two sides traded points until a kill by Emma Baalman staked SIU to an early 10-8 lead. The Tigers got to within one, 12-11, but the Salukis closed on a 13-3 run to take the set.
* Southern ran away with the second set highlighted by a 9-0 run that broke a 7-all tie. The Salukis utilized an efficient attack, as they hit .300 in the frame and had four hitters with at least two kills.
* The Tigers got out to their largest lead of the match with an early 5-1 spurt that made it 9-4. With Keera Clarke at the service stripe, the Salukis responded with seven-straight points keyed by three aces from Clarke to take an 11-9 lead and never trailed again. SIU closed the set on a 7-2 run.
* The Salukis held the Tigers to -.020 hitting percentage for the match, which marked the first time that SIU has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage since Southern held South Florida to a -.053 hitting percentage on Sept. 11, 2011.
• Southern served seven aces in the win, which was the second-most they've recorded in a match this season. Clarke served four while Alayna Martin added three.

Inside the Match: Arkansas State

• The Redwolves (7-5) led from start to finish in the opening set. The Salukis got to within one twice, which included a double block by Patience Brown and Alayna Martin that made it 9-8 but that was as close as they could get. Arkansas State hit at a .400 clip in the set.
• The Salukis held off the Redwolves in the second set and limited the home team to a .096 hitting percentage in the frame. Southern led by as many as five and never trailed by less then two until back-to-back points on set point tied the frame, 24-all. The two sides traded sideout points before a kill by Brown coupled with a double block by Martin and Emma Baalman sealed a 27-25 set two win.
• The Redwolves responded by opening the third set on a 5-1 run and led by as many as six (20-14) after the midway point. Southern used a late 4-1 spurt to close it's gap to one, 23-22, but back-to-back points by Arkansas State dashed SIU's hopes of a comeback win.
• The Salukis were determined from the onset of the fourth set to force a fifth frame, as they opened on a 4-0 run and never trailed. Arkansas State rallied to tie the set, 22-22 but Southern answered with three-straight points to force a fifth set.
• The Redwolves scored the first seven points of the fifth set and cruised from there. Southern finished with 88 digs- it's most in a five-set match this season and had five different player record at least 10 digs.

Inside the numbers

• Maggie Nedoma averaged 3.37 kills through SIU's first two matches at the A-State Invitational. The sophomore right side had eight kills and 10 digs in the win over Jackson State and followed with a team-high 19 kills in the five-set loss to the Redwolves.
• Keera Clarke recorded the first four aces of her career in the win over Jackson State. The sophomore from Santa Monica, Calif. also added eight digs in the win over the Tigers and totaled a career-best 16 digs in the nightcap against Arkansas State.
• Patience Brown hit at a career-best .800 clip in the win over Jackson State. The Bloomington, Ill. native needed just 10 swings to put down eight kills. She also added a solo block and three block touches. In the nightcap, the senior middle hitter hit .294 with 13 kills on 34 swings. She is hitting .409 through SIU's first two matches of the A-State Invitational.
• Marissa Rossi notched the first assist-dig double-double of her career in the five-set loss to the Redwolves. The freshman setter from Grand Rapids, Minn. set career-bests in assists (12), digs (15) and served her first collegiate ace in what was her sixth career match.
• Alysa Sutton finished a kill shy of her first double-double of the season against Arkansas State. The junior outside hitter finished with nine kills and a season-high 12 digs.
• Kat Wagner tallied 11 digs to go along with four kills and an ace in the loss to the Redwolves. It marked the fifth time this season that the first-year outside hitter has tallied 10-or more digs.
• Alayna Martin averaged 7.5 assists, 3.1 digs and .5 aces per set on Friday, which included her sixth double-double of the season against Arkansas State. The junior setter finished with 36 assists and tied her career-high with 17 digs in the loss to the Redwolves.

Up Next

The Salukis close out play at the A-State Invitational against Central Arkansas on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 10:30 a.m.