Southern Illinois University
Drake University
Salukis fall in three at Drake
03/21/2021 | 3:50:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball team fell in three sets (21-25, 17-25, 15-25) to the Drake Bulldogs on Sunday, March 21 in Missouri Valley Conference play inside the Knapp Center.
The Salukis hung tough in the first half of each of Sunday's three sets but allowed the Bulldogs to run away late with all three sets. Southern used 11 different players and seven different hitters recorded at least one kill.
Emily Plock (12 kills) and Haley Bush (16 kills) did most of the heavy lifting for the Bulldogs. The duo accounted for two-thirds of Drake's 42 kills and helped the Bulldogs hit .275 as a team.
Emma Baalman and Hannah Becker led the way for the Salukis. Baalman put down eight kills and hit at a .333 clip while Becker hit .348 with eight kills on 23 swings with no errors. Rachel Maguire dished out 30 assists and added six digs. Defensively, Katy Kluge tallied a team-best 13 digs to go along with four assists and an ace.
Southern scored four of the first five points of the match and took a 9-7 lead in the first set on back-to-back kills by Becker. The Salukis took their last lead of the first frame, 12-10 on one of Hartfield's three first set kills. SIU got to within one, 19-18 on a Drake attack error but that was as close as they could get.
Drake returned the favor in the second set, as it opened the frame on a 4-1 run. Southern kept it close early, as it used a kill by Savanah Sheridan to get to within two, 10-8. The Bulldogs, however, strung together a 6-2 spurt to open a six-point advantage, 16-10, and cruised from there.
SIU used four-straight points to open a 9-7 lead in the third frame. The Bulldogs answered with six-straight points of their own to push their lead up to four, 13-9. A kill by Hartfield got SIU to within three, 14-11, but Drake scored in bunches to run away with the set.
The Salukis are back in action tomorrow when they take on the Bulldogs for their final road match of the 2020-21 season. First serve is set for 5 p.m.
