Southern Illinois University
2-7,1-6MVC
University of Northern Iowa
4-6,4-3MVC
Salukis fall in three to Panthers
02/21/2021 | 5:16:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball team dropped a three-set decision (18-25, 23-25, 21-25) to the Northern Iowa Panthers on Sunday, Feb. 21 in Missouri Valley Conference play inside Davies Gym.
Serve and serve receive were again costly for the Salukis (2-7, 1-6 MVC), as Southern had difficulty remaining in system. SIU recorded a 50-percent (37-of-73) sideout percentage for the match. Southern was unable to sideout above 54-percent in any of the three sets on Sunday. The Panthers also finished with 11 service aces and Southern committed seven service errors.
UNI's pin hitters did most of the heavy lifting. Inga Rotto led all hitters with 11 kills while Kaylissa Arndorfer added nine kills to help the Panthers hit .258 as a team. The Salukis didn't do themselves any favors, as Southern totaled 35 errors, which included 17 attack errors.
Freshman Tatum Tornatta paced the Salukis with seven kills. Tornatta was one of seven hitters to record a kill in the match. Redshirt freshman Alex Washington chipped in a season-high seven kills and an ace while Hannah Becker and Imani Hartfield each added six kills. Rachel Maguire tallied 27 assists, five digs and an ace. Defensively, Southern was led by Katy Kluge, who finished with 10 digs to go along with two assists.
The Panthers used four-straight points to break a 7-all tie in the first set and never looked back. Southern got to within three, 13-10, on a double block by Imani Hartfield and Tatum Tornatta, but that was as close as they could get. Both teams hit for a high average in the first stanza, as UNI hit at a .414 clip while SIU hit .370.
In the second set, SIU looked poised to take the frame after it rallied from being down by as many as four early to tie the set at 19-all. From there, Southern scored four of the next five points to build a 23-20 advantage. The Panthers, however, had other plans, as they scored five-straight points to take a 2-0 lead.
Southern again battled in the third set, as it took an early 5-3 lead on back-to-back kills by Washington. After UNI rallied to tie the frame at 7-all, SIU scored four-straight with Emma Baalman at the service stripe to build an 11-7 advantage. The Panthers chipped away at the Salukis lead to tie the frame at 16-all, and followed with seven-straight points to put the match to bed.
The Salukis are back in action tomorrow when they host UNI for the second match of the season series. First serve is set for 3 p.m.
