Southern Illinois University
5-17 (0-9MVC)
Loyola University Chicago
15-6 (8-1MVC)
Salukis hang tough against first-place Ramblers
10/22/2021 | 10:42:00 | Women's Volleyball
The Southern Illinois volleyball team dropped a hard fought, four set match, 3-1 (21-25, 23-25, 25-16, 21-25) to the Loyola Ramblers in Missouri Valley Conference action Friday night inside Gentile Arena.
The Salukis fought valiantly against the first-place Ramblers, as they made Loyola work for each of its three set wins. A back-and-forth first set that saw nine ties and three lead changes broke Loyola's way late. In the second set, the Salukis fell behind by as many as eight but fought all the way back to within one, 24-23 before a sideout kill by Loyola gave them a 2-0 set score lead. Southern hit .333, sided out at an impressive 70-percent clip and tallied five of their season-high 11 blocks in its 25-16 set three win. The Ramblers again led by as many as eight in the fourth set but the Salukis made a late run to get to within three, 24-21 before Loyola took the set and match.
Nataly Garcia and Alex Washington combined for 30 of SIU's 48 kills. Garcia reached double figures for the 10th-straight match with a team-best 16 kills to go along with eight digs. Washington tallied 14 kills on a season-high 40 attempts to go along with eight digs and an ace. Tatum Tornatta added eight kills, three digs and two blocks while Margherita Giani was a force defensively as well as offensively. Giani hit .385 with six kills on 13 swings and made her presence felt at the net defensively- she tallied seven blocks and added two aces.Â
Anna Jaworski dished out 38 assists and set a career-high with five blocks while Averi Vanderzille added three kills and four blocks. Katy Kluge tallied 10 digs and two aces to lead Southern's back row efforts.
A kill by Washington tied the first set at 7-all. Washington third kill of the first frame got SIU to within one, 11-10. Katy Kluge tied the frame at 12-all with an ace and Southern scored four of the next five points, highlighted by back-to-back blocks by Margherita Giani to take a 16-13 edge. Washington's fifth kill of the opening set gave SIU a 19-17 lead and the Salukis held a narrow 21-20 lead after Loyola service error, but the first-place Ramblers ended the frame on a 5-0 run to take the opener.Â
Loyola opened the second set by scoring three of the first four points. Southern cut its deficit to two, 7-5, on a kill by Garcia, but Loyola answered with five of the next seven points to build a 12-7 lead. The Ramblers lead ballooned to 15-8 at the midway point. The Salukis scored three-straight points, highlighted by back-to-back kills by Tornatta to get to within four, 15-11. The Salukis continued to hang around and later fended off set point six times, as SIU cut its deficit down to one, 24-23, before Loyola sided out to take the frame, 25-23.
The Ramblers scored five of the first seven points of the third set before the Salukis responded with three-straight points to tie the frame at 5-all. Washington's 10th kill of the match gave SIU a 9-7 lead and a successful challenge by the Salukis on a missed touch off of a block gave SIU an 12-9 lead. SIU scored six of the next 11 points to grow its lead to seven and the Salukis cruised from there.Â
After the Salukis scored the first two points of the fourth set off of Rambler errors, Loyola buckled and scored the next four points to take the lead for good. After trailing by as many as eight points (21-13), Southern battled all the way back to get to within three, 23-20 on a trio of kills from Garcia, Washington and Giani but that was as close as the Salukis could get.Â
The Salukis are back in action tomorrow, Oct. 23 when they travel to Valparaiso, Ind. to take on the Beacons. First serve is set for 5 p.m.
