Salukis open Valley play at Bradley/Illinois State

Friday, September 27

Peoria, IL

6 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Bradley University

Photo by: Will Becque

09/25/2019 | 3:57:00 | Women's Volleyball

VB Notes vs. Ill. St./Bradley Watch vs. Bradley Live Stats vs. Bradley Watch vs. Illinois St.Live Stats vs. Illinois St.

Salukis will open the weekend against the Braves on Friday, followed by a match Saturday against the Redbirds.

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

The Southern Illinois volleyball team hits the road this weekend, as it heads to Bradley to take on the Braves on Friday, before traveling to Illinois State to tangle with the Redbirds on Saturday.

All-Time vs. the Braves

• The Braves and the Salukis will meet for the 67th time Friday in a series that dates back to 1975.
• SIU leads the all-time series, 45-21 and have won four of the last five at Bradley.
• Prior to last season's loss at Bradley, Southern hadn't lost in Peoria, Ill. since 2013, when Bradley last swept the regular season series.

All-Time vs. Illinois State

• The Salukis and the Redbirds will meet for the 89th time in a series that dates back to 1975.
• Illinois State holds a commanding 75-12-1 lead in the all-time series, which includes a 31-4 all-time record vs. the Salukis on its home floor.
• The Redbirds have won four-straight in the series, including a 3-0 sweep of the Salukis on Oct. 19.

Triple-Dubs

• Rachel Maguire notched her sixth and seventh triple-doubles of the season at the Golden Eagle Invitational.
• In doing so, she broke Meg Viggars school-record for triple-doubles in a single-season.
•Maguire's seven triple-doubles are the most by a player in the Missouri Valley Conference since at least 2015 and Southern's eight triple-doubles this season (Maguire- 7, Martin -1) are as many as the MVC had in the previous four seasons combined (2015-18).
•Maguire currently leads the nation in triple-doubles while Martin joins Maguire as one of 21 players nationally with at least one triple-double this season.
•Martin and Maguire became just the second Saluki tandem, and the first since Nov. 13, 1981, to record triple-doubles in the same match against IUPUI.
•As a program, SIU accounts for 15 of the 18 triples-doubles that have occurred by Valley schools since the 2015 season.

Rachel Maguire, SIU (2019) - 7
Meg Viggars. SIU (2015) - 6
Chloe Rear, Missouri St. (2019) - 2
Alayna Martin, SIU (2019) - 1
Meg Viggars, SIU (2016) - 1
Jody Larson, Wichita St. (2016) - 1

Winning Non-Conference Record

•The Salukis went 2-1 last weekend at the Golden Eagle Invitational.
•Southern has already exceeded its win total from a year ago and finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a winning record for the first time since 2016.
•SIU's back-to-back wins last Saturday marked the fourth time already this season that Southern has won back-to-back matches, which is double the amount of times that the Salukis had done so in the previous two seasons combined.

Don't throw in the towel

•Six of SIU's last eight matches have gone to five sets, including a school-record streak of five-straight matches.
•The school record for most five-set matches in one season is 11, set during the 1982 season when Southern played 36 matches.
•The Salukis are 128-110 (.537) all-time in five set matches since 1976.

Valley Debut

• SIU's match against Bradley on Friday, Sept. 27 will mark Coach Allen's MVC debut.
• Allen was 2-2 against MVC opponents during his previous stints at Tulsa and Alabama.

Conference Openers

• The Salukis hold a 13-14 record in conference openers since the Valley began prior to the 1992 season.
• Southern has won five of its last seven conference openers, with their last win in a conference opener coming in 2017 with a four-set win over Bradley.

Eclipsed the 1,000 mark

•The Salukis notched their 1,000 dig of the season in the four-set win over Western Illinois.
•Southern ranks first nationally in total digs with 1,018 and is 22nd in the nation with a 16.89 digs per set average.
•Four Salukis have already reached the century mark for digs - Laura Rojas (259), Alayna Martin (169), Rachel Maguire (166) and Katy Kluge (139).
•SIU's 110 digs in its five-set match against IUPUI are the fifth-most in a match nationally this season.
•Southern's 110 digs are its most in a match since Nov. 20, 2009- a five-set loss to Evansville.

As She Goes, We Go

• Savannah Sheridan put down a career-high 18 kills in SIU's win over Tennessee Tech on Sept. 21.
• Sheridan, who did not play volleyball last year after sitting out a year, has put down 10-or more kills in seven matches this season, including a streak of four-straight matches from Sept. 6-10.
• The Salukis are 6-1 this season when Sheridan tallies 10-plus kills.

Hitting for a high efficiency in the middle

• Lindsey Paulsen hit .455 with 10 kills in the win at Tennessee Tech on Sept. 21.
• Paulsen has now put down at least nine kills in five matches this season- which is one more than she did in 23 matches a year ago.
• The redshirt junior has also hit above .300 in eight matches this season- Southern is 7-1 in those matches.
• Fellow middle Emma Baalman leads the team with a .294 hitting % while Paulsen is second at .264.

Piloting the offense

• Alayna Martin has tallied 11 assist-dig double-doubles this season, including a streak of nine-straight matches with double-digit assists and digs. She also posted the first triple-double of her career in the loss to IUPUI.
• Martin's 26 career assist-dig double-doubles are tied with Laura Thole for 12th on SIU's all-time list.
• Martin has tallied at least 15 swings in seven-straight matches.
• Martin's 50 kills in 14 matches this season are three more than she had in 69 career matches (47) coming into this season.

Leading the back row

• Laura Rojas has dug out at least 10 balls in 13 of SIU's 14 matches this season, including a career-best 28 digs in Southern's win over Tennessee Tech on Sept. 21.
• Her 13 matches with double-digit digs has more than doubled her total from last season. Rojas had 10-plus digs in six matches in her first season as a Saluki.
• The Orlando, Fl. native has dug out 20-plus balls in six matches this season.

Big Swings off the bench

• Kyra Hunter came up big for SIU in its win over Western Illinois on Sept. 21.
•Hunter tallied season-bests in both hitting percentage (.469), kills (15) and attempts (32) in the win.
•It marked the second time this season that the Hoover, Ala. native has put down 10-plus kills, and Southern is 2-0 when she does so.

Steady back row presence

•Katy Kluge is one of four Salukis to have reached the century mark already this season in total digs.
•Kluge has recorded double-digit digs in 10 matches this season, including an active streak of nine-straight matches with 10-plus digs.
•Kluge has also served up at least one ace in 11 of SIU's 14 matches and has tallied multiple aces in five of those 11 matches. The sophomore defensive specialist leads the team with 20 aces on the year.