Volleyball hosts Saluki Bash at Banterra Center this weekend

Friday, September 6

Carbondale, Ill.

12:30 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Alabama A&M University

Photo by: Will Becque

09/05/2019 | 9:59:00 | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes

By: Will Becque, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball team hosts the Saluki Bash this weekend, as they welcome Alabama A&M, SIUE and Southeastern Louisiana to the Banterra Center.

All SIU matches will be shown on ESPN+, with live stats available for all six matches this weekend.

Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/siu/wvball
SIU vs. Alabama A&M: Watch
SIU vs. SIUE: Watch
SIU vs. Southeastern Louisiana: Watch

Saluki Bash Full Schedule

Friday, Sept. 6
SIUE vs. Southeastern La. - 10 a.m.
Alabama A&M vs. SIU - 12:30 p.m.
Southeastern La. vs. Alabama A&M - 5 p.m.
SIU vs. SIUE - 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 7
SIUE vs. Alabama A&M - 11 a.m.
Southeastern La. vs. SIU - 1:30 p.m.

Scouting Alabama A&M

Alabama A&M went 2-1 at the SWAC/MEAC Tournament, with its only loss coming against Belmont.
Maya Evans, the Preseason SWAC Player of the Year led the conference in hitting percentage (.388) a year ago.
The Lady Bulldogs had five players voted to the Preseason All-SWAC first team- Megan Evans, Jaelin Gant, Terra Brooks, Alana Cox and Maya Evans.
Alabama A&M was picked to finish second in the SWAC's preseason poll.

All-time vs. Alabama A&M

This is the second time the Salukis and the Lady Bulldogs have played, with the first meeting coming a year ago.
Southern swept the Lady Bulldogs last year at the Saluki Invitational by the set scores of 25-16, 25-11, 25-16.
Alabama A&M ended up going 18-1 in SWAC play in 2018 and advanced to the NIVC Tournament, where they fell to Clemson.
It will mark the third time SIU has faced a SWAC opponent- Southern is 2-0 all-time against SWAC schools.

Scouting Southeastern Louisiana

The Lady Lions went 1-3 on opening weekend. Southeastern Louisiana defeated Tulane in five-sets on Tuesday night.
The Lady Lions are under the direction of first-year head coach Jeremy White, who came from Northwestern Oklahoma State, where he went 38-25 in two seasons at the helm.
The Lady Lions had four hitters average two-plus kills per set through their first four matches, led by Jodi Edo with a 2.50 kills per set average.

All-time vs. Southeastern Louisiana

This will mark the second-ever meeting between the Salukis and the Lady Lions.
Southern won the previous meeting in straight sets- a 3-0 win at the Mississippi State Maroon Classic on Aug. 27, 2011.

Scouting SIUE

SIUE went 2-1 during opening weekend, defeating NIU in four sets and sweeping Farleigh Dickinson.
The Cougars went 9-20 a year ago.
SIUE was picked to finish fifth in the OVC Preseason Poll and had two players earn Preseason All-OVC honors- Hope Everett and Rachel McDonald.

All-time vs. SIUE

This will mark the second time that the sister schools have met.
The Salukis won the first meeting in five sets on Sept. 27, 2011.

First Time for everything

Alex Washington posted back-to-back kill-dig double-doubles in two of her first three collegiate matches.
In the NCAA era (since 1982), Washington is the first Saluki freshman to start her career with two kill-dig double-doubles in her first three matches.

Kill-Dig Double-Doubles by a freshman

Alex Washington's two kill-dig double-doubles are already tied for the 11th-most by a freshman in program history.
She became the 24th Saluki freshman to post a kill-dig double-double and just the 10th SIU first-year to do so in back-to-back matches.
Andrea Estrada holds the school record for kill-dig double-doubles by a freshman- she had 10 during the 2014 season.

10-plus kills by a freshman

Washington's 10-plus kills as a freshman makes her the 43rd Saluki freshman to put down double-digit kills in a match during their first season on campus.
Kristie Kemner holds the school record for matches with 10 or more kills as a freshman at 15.
The school record for kills in a match by a freshman is 28, set by Jessica Whitehead in 2010. It is one of only 10 times in program history that a first-year has put down 20 or more kills in a single match.

Maguire earns All-Tournament Team honors

Rachel Maguire did it all for the Salukis at the Marcia Hamilton Classic to earn All-Tournament Team honors.
The junior from Bloomington, Ill. averaged a triple-double in SIU's three matches (10 kills/10.3 digs/19.6 assists per match) which included the first triple-double by a Saluki since 2016 in the win over Middle Tennessee State.
Maguire tallied 10 kills, 14 assists and 11 digs in the win over the Blue Raiders.
In doing so, she became the ninth different Saluki to post a triple-double and it was the 23rd triple-double in school history.
Meg Viggars was the last to notch consecutive triple-doubles, as she tallied three-straight from Oct. 5-16, 2015.

Allen makes home debut

Ed Allen makes his home debut as head coach of the Southern Illinois Salukis against Alabama A&M.
Saluki head coaches are 2-4 all-time when making their home debut. Here's how the previous six coaches faired:

Debbie Hunter vs. UMSL (9/20/75) L, 1-2
Patti Hagemeyer vs. Georgia (9/8/89) L, 3-1
Sonya Locke vs. Ole Miss (9/6/91) W, 3-0
Brenda Winkeler vs. UMKC (9/9/05) L, 2-3
Justin Ingram vs. Nicholls State (9/7/12) W, 3-0
Kari Thompson vs. Arkansas State (8/29/17) L, 1-3

Libero on Lock

Laura Rojas notched career-highs in assists (7) and digs (26) against St. Louis on Saturday.
Rojas' 26 digs are the most in a four-set match by a Saluki since Mariana Pilon tallied 26 digs at Tulsa on Sept. 12, 2015.

Middles putting it down

Emma Baalman hit a career-high .714 against St. Louis and put down a career-best 11 kills on 14 swings with just one error.
Baalman's .714 hitting percentage was the highest for a Saluki with 10 or more kills since Alex Rosignol hit .786 (11-0-14) at Drake on Oct. 21, 2016.
Southern's middles, Lindsey Paulsen and Baalman, combined to hit .354 during opening weekend, and hit over .425 combined in two of SIU's three matches.

Assist-Dig Double-Doubles

Alayna Martin notched assist-dig double-doubles in back-to-back matches to open the 2019 season. She tallied 14 assists and 15 digs against Portland State and followed with 18 assists/11 digs against St. Louis.
In doing so, Martin cracked the Top-20 in school history for career double-doubles, as she is now tied for 17th on SIU's all-time list with 17 double-doubles.

Making their marks

Five players made their Saluki debuts over the weekend. Katy Kluge, Libby Valek, Kyra Hunter, Alex Washington and Savannah Sheridan all played in at least one match for the first time in their respective careers.
Kluge made her first career start against St. Louis and tallied two kills, two assists, an ace and 11 digs.
Sheridan hit at a .450 clip against Portland State and put down nine kills on 20 swings with no errors. She followed with six kills in each of SIU's next two matches.
Valek and Hunter both played the fourth set of SIU's win over Middle Tennessee State. Hunter recorded a block touch.