Volleyball travels to Drake for final road trip of 2020-21 season

The Southern Illinois University volleyball team travels to Des Moines, Iowa to take on the Drake Bulldogs in their final road series of the 2020-21 season. The two matches are both set to be broadcast on ESPN+.

All-time vs. Drake

• SIU holds a 45-22 advantage in the all-time series.
• The Salukis swept the season series from the Bulldogs last year for the first time since 2016.
• SIU is 20-13 all-time against the Bulldogs in Des Moines.

Last time they met

• The Salukis completed the season sweep of the Bulldogs for the first time since 2016 behind good distribution offensively and a tenacious defense that kept the ball off the floor and extended rallies.
• Four different Salukis finished with double-digit kills and five tallied at least nine terminations. Defensively, Southern tallied 91 digs in the four-set win- its most in a four-set match since Sept. 24, 2011.

Leading from the middle

• Southern's middle hitters, Emma Baalman and Imani Hartfield, rank 1-2 in the MVC in hitting percentage.
• Baalman is hitting .312 and ranks first while Hartfield is second and hitting at a .298 clip.
• SIU and Illinois State are the only two programs with two players ranked in the top-10 of hitting efficiency.
• Baalman has put down double-digit kills in six matches while Hartfield has done so in five matches this season.
• Hartfield currently ranks first among Valley freshmen in hitting percentage.

More on Hartfield

Hartfield hit .306 with a 3.0 kills per set average in SIU's two matches at Evansville.
The freshman middle hitter put down 21 kills and tallied four blocks.
Hartfield put down 13 kills on Sunday and followed with eight kills with a .353 hitting percentage on Sunday.

More on Baalman

Baalman hit .364 with a 2.57 kills per set average in SIUs two matches at Evansville.
The senior middle tallied 18 kills to just two errors and added four blocks. Against the Aces on Sunday, Baalman put down 11 kills and followed with seven on Monday.

Serving Middle

In addition to leading the conference in hitting percentage, Emma Baalman has already served 19 aces in 16 matches this season.
Baalman's 19 aces are tied for sixth nationally among middle hitters.
The redshirt senior, who had served just three aces in 42 matches prior to Coach Allen's arrival prior to the 2019 season, has since served up 48 aces in 44 matches.

Front row swinging

• Alex Washington put down 15 kills to go along with 15 digs at Evansville on March 14 for her third kill-dig double-double of the season.
• It marked the fourth-time this season, and 11th time in 25 career matches, that the Henderson, Nev. native has finished with double-digit kills.
• Washington, who returned to the front row against UNI on Feb. 21 after playing primarily in the back row through the first half of the 2020-21 season, has put down nine-plus kills in five of her last seven matches.

Piloting the attack

• Rachel Maguire is piloting SIU's 5-1 attack and is averaging 9.79 assists per set.
• Maguire's 9.79 assists per set average is the highest by a Saluki since Hannah Kaminsky averaged 10.57 assists per set in 2013.
• Maguire's 607 assists, meanwhile, are the third-most total assists in the Valley and ranks 25th nationally in the category.

Holding down the libero spot

• Katy Kluge is having a career year as Southern's libero.
• Kluge is averaging 4.78 digs per set- more than two digs more per set than last season's average of 2.54.
• The Oconomowoc, Wis. native ranks seventh in the league in digs per set.
• Kluge's 301 total digs are the fourth-most in the Valley and rank 24th nationally.
• Kluge has notched double-digit digs in all of SIU's matches this season, which includes five matches with 20 or more digs.
• Kluge has served at least one ace in eight matches this season, which includes six matches with multiple aces.

Freshmen making an impact

• Southern's talented freshmen class has continued to show its potential this season.
• Seven true freshmen - Tatum Tornatta, Imani Hartfield, Taylor Morgan, Nsia Gittens, Peyton Plant, Ryan Rednour and MacKenzie Houser have all played extensively.
• Hartfield (130) and Tornatta (126) rank first and second on the team in kills while Houser (129) is one of three Salukis who already has 100-plus digs on the year.
• SIU's true freshmen account for 45.5-percent (345-of-757) of Southern's kills this season.

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