Southern Illinois University
5-19,0-11MVC
Illinois State University
13-11,9-3MVC
Salukis fall to Redbirds
10/29/2021 | 8:13:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball team dropped a three-set decision (12-25, 18-25, 17-25) to the Illinois State Redbirds Friday night in Missouri Valley Conference play inside Davies Gym.
The Redbirds, winners of six-straight and eight of their last nine, fired on all cylinders from the opening serve, as they scored the match's first five points and hit at a .412 clip for the contest. Illinois State also tallied 14 blocks and served six aces, of which four came during the first set.
Tatum Tornatta paced the Saluki attack with 10 kills. Nataly Garcia added seven kills, six digs and two aces, while Bryleigh Buchanan chipped in four kills of her own. Defensively, Anna Jaworski led the way with eight digs to go along with 21 assists and two kills.
Illinois State scored the first five points of the opening set. The Salukis got a much needed side out point, but the Redbirds poured on six of the next seven points to push their advantage to 11-2. Southern got to within seven, 14-7 on a double block by Margherita Giani and Alex Washington, but that was as close as they could get. Illinois State served aggressively in the frame to the tune of four aces.
SIU took the lead in set two on back-to-back aces by Garcia that made it 8-6 in favor of the Salukis. Illinois State answered with six of the next seven to make it 12-9. The Redbirds continued to pour it on, as they used another 5-1 run to push their advantage to 17-10. Southern cut its deficit to three, 19-16, on a double block by Giani and Garcia, but Illinois State scored six of the next eight to take the frame.
Southern used a 3-0 spurt to take a 7-4 lead in set three. Southern's lead grew to 10-6 before Illinois State scored six-straight points to retake the lead. A kill by Tornatta cut SIU's deficit to 13-12, but the Redbirds dialed up another 5-1 run that gave the defending MVC champs the lead for good.
The Salukis are back in action tomorrow at 5 p.m. when they host the Bradley Braves.
