Salukis drop season opener to Portland State

Friday, August 30

St. Louis, Mo.

3:30 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

0-1

Portland State University

1-0

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Southern Illinois	19	19	20	0
Portland State	25	25	25	3

08/30/2019 | 9:26:00 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Rachel Maguire finished a dig shy of a triple-double in the loss.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois University volleyball team dropped a three-set decision (25-19, 25-19, 25-20) to the Portland State Vikings Friday, August 30 to open play at the Marcia Hamilton Classic, hosted by St. Louis University.

Junior setter/hitter Rachel Maguire paced the Salukis and finished a dig shy of SIU's first triple-double since 2016. The junior from Bloomington, Ill. tied her career-high with 12 kills to go along with 20 assists and nine digs. Junior transfer Savannah Sheridan was also impressive in her Saluki debut, as she hit at a .450 clip and tallied nine kills on 20 swings without recording a hitting error.

Southern was undone by its miscues- the Salukis committed 30 total errors, including seven service errors and nine receiving errors. The Vikings, conversely, committed 17 errors and outhit SIU, .345-to-.274.

"We didn't defend or pass very well," head coach Ed Allen said. "Those are the two things that hurt us the most. We had good offensive balance and got a great performance out of Rachel. She not only did a great job setting but hit for a high percentage. We just didn't defend well and we made too many mistakes."

Lindsey Paulsen also didn't record a hitting error, as she hit .636 with seven kills on 11 attempts. Southern's middles, Paulsen and Emma Baalman, combined to hit a robust .458. Defensively, Alayna Martin led the way with 15 digs to go along with 14 assists for her 16th career double-double, while Laura Rojas chipped in 14 digs.

Southern got behind early in the first set and trailed by at least six for much of the opening frame. Portland State got to set point with a kill by Parker Webb at 24-13, but SIU rattled off six-straight points with Maguire at the service line to close the gap. The Vikings, however, sided out to take the set, 25-19.

Portland State again scored in bunches in set two, as the Vikings used an early 4-0 run to build a 5-1 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Maguire cut Southern's deficit down to two, 7-5 but three-straight points by the Vikings prompted a Saluki timeout. Portland State's lead grew to seven at the midway point, 15-8. SIU got to within three late, 22-19, but that was as close as they could get as the Vikings scored three-straight points to close out the second set.

The two sides battled for the advantage for much of the third frame, with neither team leading by more than two at the midway point. After the Vikings called timeout with the Salukis ahead 15-13, Southern scored three of the next four points to build its largest lead of the match at 18-14. The Vikings countered with 11 of the next 13 points, including eight-straight points to close the match.

The Salukis are back in action tomorrow against St. Louis (12 p.m.) and Middle Tennessee State (5 p.m.). Southern's match against SLU will be broadcast live on ESPN3.