Saluki Volleyball travels to Missouri State

Friday, September 28

Springfield, MO

7 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Missouri State University

Photo by: Madison Case

09/26/2018 | 2:20:00 | Women's Volleyball

Missouri State (7-9, 0-3 MVC) vs. Southern Illinois (4-12, 0-3 MVC)
Date and Time	Sept. 28, 7 p.m.
Location	Springfield, Mo.
Site	Hammons Student Center
Live Video	ESPN+
Live Stats	Sidearm Stats
Missouri State	Game Notes \| Volleyball Home Page
Southern Illinois	Game Notes \| Stats \| Media Guide

The Southern Illinois volleyball team will play its final match of September at Missouri State on Friday, Sept. 28. First serve is set for 7 p.m. while the contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.

All-Time Series vs. the Lady Bears

Missouri State leads the all-time series with the Salukis, 54-20. Missouri State has won three-straight, and five of the last six 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 (7-9, 0-3 MVC) is coming off its first MVC road loss in nearly three years, as the Loyola Ramblers swept the Lady Bears on Monday night. The Lady Bears are off to their first 0-3 start in conference play in the Melissa Stokes era, as Missouri State's last 0-3 start to Valley play came in 1995 under then head coach Linda Dollar. The Salukis will try to send the Lady Bears to their first 0-4 conference start in program history (dating back to 1983) and keep Melissa Stokes from her 500th career win.

Leading the way

Maggie Nedoma already more kills (202) through 16 matches this season as she had all of her freshmen year (200) and she put down her 400th career kill against Valparaiso. Nedoma also recorded her 12th double-digit kill output of the season against the Crusaders with a team-best 12 kills and she has now led the Salukis in kills in 14 of SIU's 16 matches this season.

Next assist

Alayna Martin's next assist will be the 1200th of her career. In doing so, Martin will become the 16th Saluki with 1,200-plus career assists. She is 34 digs shy of passing Teri Schultehenrich (1985-89) for 15th on SIU's all-time assists list.

Stout Defense

The Salukis held the Crusaders to a .169 hitting percentage Monday night- which was the lowest that Southern has held a Valley opponent since Evansville hit .143 on Sept. 29, 2017. A big reason for Valpo's difficulties was Southern's strong play defensively, as the Salukis finished with nine blocks- their most in a three-set match this season including a career-best eight blocks (one solo, seven assists) from Emma Baalman.

Libero spot

The Salukis have had three different players occupy the libero spot in matches this season; Alison Thomas, Laura Rojas and Keera Clarke. Thomas has played the most at the position and has dug out 10-plus balls in three-straight matches and eight matches overall this season. Rojas tallied a season-best 14 digs vs. Cal-State Northridge on Sept. 7 while Clarke handled the libero duties at the A-State Invitational and finished with 16 digs in back-to-back matches against Arkansas State (9/14) and Central Arkansas (9/15).

Back like she never left

Rachel Maguire made a triumphant return from injury against Bradley on Sept. 21. The sophomore from Bloomington, Ill. put down seven kills and added seven digs versus the Braves in what was her first match in three weeks.

What Brown can do for you

Patience Brown leads the Salukis with a .282 hitting percentage and has hit above .300 in seven matches this season. She was particularly efficient in SIU's sweep of Jackson State earlier this season, as she set a new career-high by hitting at an .800 clip in the win. The Bloomington, Ill. native put down eight kills on 10 swings without recording an error. It was the best that a Saluki has hit in a match since Alex Rosignol hit .818 (9-0-11) against Northern Colorado on Aug. 28, 2015.

Defense at a premium

The Salukis held the Jackson State Tigers to a -.020 hitting percentage in their 3-0 win. It marked the first time that SIU has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage since SIU held South Florida to a -.053 hitting percentage on Sept. 11, 2011.

Double-Doubles

Alayna Martin recorded her eighth assist-dig double-double of the season at Valpo, as she finished with 21 assists and 13 digs. Her 19 career double-doubles are tied with Teri Noble for the 15th-most in program history. Marissa Rossi, meanwhile, recorded her first career double-double against Arkansas State on Sept. 14 and set career-bests in both assists (12) and digs (15) while Maggie Nedoma tallied the first two kill-dig double-doubles of her career this season.

Career Night

Malvis Ortiz had a career night against Bradley, as she posted personal-bests in both hitting percentage (.381) and kills (9). The senior outside hitter nearly doubled her season total in kills against the Braves as she came into the match with 10 kills on the season.