Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
9-6, 1-0MVC
Bradley University
4-7, 0-1MVC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Illinois | 25 | 23 | 26 | 22 | 15 | 3 |
| Bradley | 22 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 11 | 2 |
Salukis win conference opener over Braves
09/27/2019 | 10:55:00 | Women's Volleyball
Southern outlasted Bradley in five-sets to win its third-straight match.
The Southern Illinois University volleyball team opened Missouri Valley Conference play with a five-set win (25-22, 23-25, 26-24, 22-25, 15-11) over the Bradley Braves Friday night.Â
Southern used a balanced offensive attack, which included three players with double-digit kills and tenacious defense that saw six Salukis reach double figures in digs to win its third-straight match, the longest win streak for the SIU since 2016.
"It was a complete team effort," first-year head coach Ed Allen said of the win. "We got some great offensive performances. We also did a good job defensively with first ball contacts and I felt like we blocked better than we have the last couple of matches."
The Salukis (9-6, 1-0 MVC) overcame two lengthy weather delays, as a pair of tornado warnings sent both teams scampering to the Renaissance Coliseum basement at the beginning of the third set and towards the end of the fourth set. The match finished in just short of three and a half hours.
"We stayed pretty loose during the breaks," Allen said of the weather delays. "We got to talk about where we were in our rotations and what we wanted to do coming out of the delays. As much as anything we just tried to relax."
As if two weather delays weren't enough, the Salukis also played their seventh five-setter already this season and SIU improved to 5-2 in five-set matches with the win Friday.Â
"We're in a different place right now," Allen said. "We don't panic. We get into the fifth set and were still loose."
The Salukis took the opening set, 25-22 after it raced out to an 8-0 lead and never trailed. The Braves answered with a 25-23 win in set two, before Southern rallied to take set three, 26-24. SIU trailed by as many as five and were down 23-20 before it scored six of the final seven points to take a 2-1 lead.Â
The Salukis were nearly able to finish the Braves off in four sets after they stormed back from a 19-15 deficit to take a 21-20 lead in the fourth frame. Bradley had other plans, however, as it scored five of the last six points to force a fifth set. Southern took a 5-2 lead with four-straight points and never looked back in the final frame, as an error on Bradley's setter on match point gave SIU the hard-fought win.
Southern won its conference opener behind several career-best performances. Hannah Becker hit at a career-best .362 clip and put down a career-high 18 kills on 47 swings with just one error. Rachel Maguire, meanwhile, notched her NCAA-best eighth triple-double of the season after she put down a career-high 17 kills, dished out 24 assists to go along with 17 digs and five blocks. Alayna Martin nearly had a triple-double of her own, as she had nine kills, 26 assists and a career-high 25 digs. In the back row, Laura Rojas dished out a career-best 13 assists and tied her career-high with 28 digs.
Savannah Sheridan was the third Saluki with double-digit kills, as she reached double figures for the eighth time already this season with 13. Emma Baalman added six kills, a career-high 10 digs, five blocks and an ace, while Abi Fitzpatrick and Katy Kluge tallied 14 and 13 digs, respectively.Â
With the victory, Southern improved to 6-0 all-time in conference openers under first-year head coaches.
The Salukis are back in action tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Illinois State. The Redbirds were the MVC runner-ups a year ago and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
