Southern Illinois University
2-5,1-4MVC
Valparaiso University
2-4,1-4MVC
Salukis outlast Valpo in five-set thriller
02/14/2021 | 9:20:00 | Women's Volleyball
The Southern Illinois University volleyball team outlasted the Valparaiso Volleyball team in a five-set thriller, winning by the set scores of 25-17, 17-25, 27-25, 22-25, 15-13, Sunday night inside the ARC.
Southern burst out of the gate, as it got out to an early 13-7 lead and never looked back to take the first frame, 25-17. Valpo flipped the script with a 25-17 win in the second set, but it was Southern who overcame a late three-point deficit to stun the Brown and Gold and take the third set, 27-25. After Valparaiso squeaked out a 25-22 win to force a fifth set, Southern hit .348 in the decisive set and withstood a late Valpo rally to take the frame and win the match.
It marked SIU's first win at Valparaiso in program history and Southern's first Missouri Valley Conference win of the young 2020-21 season. The victory also snapped SIU's four-match skid. The win was a much-needed jolt of confidence for Southern's young squad-Â the Salukis played nine different players Sunday, of which five were freshmen.
"We are excited to see some of our young players grow and develop and they are starting to assume some responsibility within our team," head coach Ed Allen said. "We're really pleased that we haven't allowed disappointment to effect effort. That is an important trait for winners to have."
Southern was strong defensively in both the front and back row, as the Salukis finished with a season-high 13 blocks and dug out 91 balls. Offensively, SIU had four players with 10-plus kills while five tallied double-digit digs. Â
"We've got tremendous balance offensively at times, specifically when everyone is doing their jobs," Allen said. "Good balance is important because ultimately you want to make it difficult for a team to defend and when you have that kind of balance you can't really zero-in on any one hitter."
The 13 blocks by the Salukis were the most in a match in Allen's two seasons as Southern's head coach. Southern also committed just 17 attack errors- its fewest in a five-set match since Nov. 14, 2014.Â
"I was really pleased with our block- it was probably our best blocking performance since I've been at SIU," Allen said. "We also did a better job of managing the match from a hitting perspective and that's reflective in the drop in our hitting errors."
Hannah Becker led the way offensive with a season-high 17 kills to go along with six block touches and four digs. Taylor Morgan added her first career kill-dig double-double, as she put down 12 kills and added 12 digs. SIU's middles were equally unstoppable, as Imani Hartfield hit .323, tied her career-best with 14 kills and totaled eight blocks. Emma Baalman hit at a .480 clip and finished with 12 kills on 25 swings with no errors.Â
"We've got two of the best hitting middles in league in terms of hitting percentage in Emma and Imani," Allen said. "Emma and Imani have been drawing a ton of attention and that's why Hannah and Taylor have had so much freedom to have the kind of matches that they have on the left side. We have been really pleased with Taylor's performance over the last two matches. She's hit for a solid hitting percentage and continues to grow her understanding of the game. It was also nice to see Hannah return to the type of all-conference player that she is capable of being and that this team needs her to be."
Rachel Maguire kept Southern in system most of the day and was tremendous defensively as well. The Bloomington, Ill. native set a career-high with 59 assists and added 16 digs. Maguire and Morgan were joined by Katy Kluge (24), MacKenzie Houser (13) and Alex Washington (12) as Salukis to record double figure digs.Â
SIU got out to an early 13-7 lead after a solo stuff by Becker in the first set. Valpo scored seven of the next nine points to get to within one, 15-14. Southern's lead remained just two until Maguire served SIU to seven-straight points and turned a 17-15 lead into a nine-point advantage. In all, Southern scored 10 of the final 13 points in the first frame.
Valpo led from start to finish in its set two win. Neither side led by more than two early in the third frame until Valpo use a 4-1 run to break an 11-all tie and take a 15-12 lead. The Brown and Gold again led 22-19, but the Salukis would not go away quietly. Southern got to within two, 24-22 and staved off set point twice before scoring three of the final four points in the frame to take a 2-1 lead. After Valparaiso took the fourth set, Southern used four-straight points to break an 4-all tie in the fifth frame and held off a late Valpo rally to close out the win.
The two sides will tangle again on Monday, with first serve scheduled for 4 p.m.
