Volleyball hosts Saluki Bash this weekend

CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball team hosts the Saluki Bash this weekend, as they welcome Alabama A&M, Oral Roberts and UT Martin to the Banterra Center.

The Salukis picked up their first win of the 2021 season last Saturday at the Southern Miss Classic with a 3-0 sweep of Mississippi Valley State. The Salukis trailed just twice in the match and hit .375 as a team, which was its highest hitting percentage in a match since Aug. 31, 2018.

All SIU matches will be shown on ESPN+, with live stats available for all six matches this weekend.

Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/siu/wvball

Saluki Bash Full Schedule

Friday, Sept. 3

Oral Roberts vs. UT Martin - 10 a.m.

Alabama A&M vs. SIU - 12 p.m.

Oral Roberts vs. Alabama A&M - 4 p.m.

SIU vs. UT Martin - 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 4

UT Martin vs. Alabama A&M - 11 a.m.

Oral Roberts vs. SIU - 1:30 p.m.

Scouting the opposition
Alabama A&M

Alabama A&M went 0-3 at the Tulane Invitational and was unable to win a set during their three matches to open the 2021 season.
The Bulldogs, who opted out of the Spring 2021 season, were picked to win the SWAC in the league's annual preseason poll
Alabama A&M is coming off a 2019 season in which it went 20-15, which included a 15-4 record in SWAC play, to win the SWAC regular season title and advance to the NIVC Tournament.
The Bulldogs have 15 newcomers in 2021 and return just five players from 2019.

All-time vs. Alabama A&M

The Salukis and the Bulldogs will meet for the third time Friday.
Southern leads the all-time series, 2-0. Both wins came in Carbondale.
SIU swept Alabama A&M in three sets in 2018, and downed the Bulldogs in four sets in 2019.
The Salukis hold a perfect 5-0 all-time record against SWAC opponents. SIU has knocked off a SWAC program in three of the last four seasons, which includes last weekend's win over Mississippi Valley State.

UT-Martin

The Skyhawks went 0-3 at the A-State Invitational, which included a 3-0 loss to Missouri State.
12 student-athletes, of which four were full-time starters, returned from a UT Martin squad that went 6-10 during the Spring 2021 season. UT Martin welcomed five newcomers, including a trio of NCAA DI transfers in Olivia Saunders, France Ulate and Audrey Haworth.
UT Martin was picked to finish sixth in the 2021 OVC Preseason Poll. Outside hitter Logan Wallick was selected to the Preseason All-OVC team.
The Skyhawks rank ninth nationally in digs per set (19.10/set).
UT Martin is in the midst of a stretch of 15-straight road matches to open the 2021 season.

All-time vs. Skyhawks

Southern is 14-3 all-time vs. UT Martin and have won five-straight over the Skyhawks.
The Salukis defeated the Skyhawks, 3-2, on Sept. 17, 2019.
Southern is a perfect 11-0 all-time against UT Martin on its home floor in a streak that dates back to 1975. The Salukis have done so, historically, in convincing fashion, as they dropped just five sets to UT Martin (30-5) during that stretch.
SIU's last loss in the series came in 2011, a 3-2 loss in Starksville, Miss.

Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts went 3-0 at the Katrinka Crawford Invitational, defeating Louisiana Monroe, Lamar and Prairie View A&M.
Kaia Dunford led the way offensively for the Golden Eagles, as she averaged 4.08 kills and 2.83 digs per set to earn Tournament MVP honors. Her 49 kills during opening weekend were the 24th-most nationally.
Libero Sarah Thiessen took home Summit League Defensive Player of the Week honors after she averaged 4.5 digs per set at the Katrinka Crawford Invitational, behind 20 digs in the first match and an impressive 27 digs in a four-set win over host Lamar.
The Golden Eagles matched their win total from 2020 (3-15, 3-13 Summit) with their three wins last weekend. The 2020 season was the program's first season under head coach Frank Craig III.
Oral Roberts was picked to finish sixth in the Summit League in the league's annual preseason poll.

All-Time vs. Oral Roberts

Saturday's matchup will mark the fourth all-time meeting between the Salukis and the Golden Eagles, and the first meeting since 1981.
Oral Roberts leads the all-time series, 3-0. The Golden Eagles won the first-ever meeting between the two programs, 2-0, on Sept. 29, 1979 in Tulsa, Okla.
The Golden Eagles then defeated the Salukis in straight sets on back-to-back days in Carbondale, Ill. on Oct. 30-31, 1981.

Hartfield named to All-Tournament Team

Imani Hartfield hit .563 in SIU's three matches last weekend and put down 19 kills on 32 swings with just one error.
The Samford, Fla. native hit over .450 in each of SIU's three matches, which included hitting a career-high .778 with seven kills on nine swings in Southern's sweep of Mississippi Valley State on Saturday, Aug. 28.
Hartfield put down five kills against Louisiana in SIU's season opener, and recorded seven kills in each of SIU's final two matches of the weekend.
Hartfield's .563 hitting percentage currently leads the Missouri Valley Conference.

Learning on the Fly

Anna Jaworski made her debut as SIU's primary setter last weekend and averaged 10.0 assists and 2.1 digs per set.
Jaworski finished with 100 assists, 231 digs and three kills in her first weekend of collegiate volleyball.
The Naperville, Ill. native tallied 23 assists and eight digs in the opener against Louisiana, and followed with 38 assists and nine digs against Southern Miss. In SIU's 3-0 sweep of Mississippi Valley State Jaworski totaled 39 assists, four digs and two kills.
Anna's mother, Helen (Malina) Jaworski, played both volleyball and badminton at SIU and Anna is the fourth member of her immediate family to play collegiate volleyball. Her father, John, played at Purdue Fort Wayne, while her brother, John, is a junior at Daemen College, where he is a defensive specialist for the Wildcats.

Family Ties

Jaworski isn't the only Saluki to follow in her mother's footsteps. Ryan Rednour, who played in two of SIU's three matches last weekend, is the daughter of SIU's all-time assists leader, Debbie Barr- Rednour.

Picking up where she left off

Katy Kluge averaged 4.80 digs per set in SIU's three matches at the Southern Miss Classic last weekend.
The Oconomowoc, Wis. native recorded double-digit digs in each of Southern's three matches, which included a season-high 21 digs vs. Southern Miss.
She opened the season with 13 digs, followed with 21 against USM and finished with 14 digs in SIU's three-set sweep of Mississippi Valley State.
The redshirt junior is now 263 digs shy of becoming the 12th Saluki to record 1,000-plus career digs and has finished with double figure digs in 22 of her last 23 matches.

Getting more acclimated

Margherita Giani, who appeared briefly in just one set during the Spring 2021 season, has taken over the role of SIU's serving middle.
Giani hit .348 for the weekend, which included hitting at a .538 clip in SIU's win over MVSU last Saturday.
The Massiani, Italy native put down at least five kills in each of SIU's three matches and made her presence felt at the net defensively. She tallied at least two block touches in all three matches, which included a season-high seven against Southern Miss.
Giani's 1.10 blocks per set is the third-best average in the MVC.
Giani also served a pair of aces in the win over the Devilettes on Aug. 28.

Putting it down

Tatum Tornatta, who put down double-digit kills in five matches during the spring season, notched her first double figure kill output of the 2021 season with 12 kills on 19 swings and no errrors in the win over Mississippi Valley State.
Tornatta's .632 hitting percentage in the win over the Devilettes was a career-high. Tornatta also hit over .400 (.412) against Lousiana in Southern's season opener, as she put down eight kills on 17 swings with just one error.

Welcome to the show

Adrien Barrett, who did not appear in a match during the 2021 Spring Season, made her Saluki debut in the win over Mississippi Valley State. The defensive specialist finished with three digs in two sets.

Top-25 in aces

Nataly Garcia served eight aces (.80/set) in three matches last weekend and currently ranks in the top-25 nationally, and is first in the Valley, in both total aces and aces per set.
Garcia's six aces in SIU's 3-0 sweep of Mississippi Valley State were the most aces by a Saluki since Jennifer Berwanger served up seven at Drake on Nov. 3, 2007. It is tied for the 15th-most in a match in program history.
Garcia, who is a junior college transfer from Navarro College, led the NJCAA with .73 aces per set in 2020 and her 48 total aces were the fifth-most nationally, despite playing the fewest matches of any player ranked in the top-five.
Garcia averaged 2.6 kills, 2.8 digs and .8 aces per set in her first three matches as a Saluki, which included her first kill-dig double-double (11 kills-12 digs) of the season against Southern Miss.

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Players Mentioned

Adrien Barrett

Nataly Garcia

Margherita Giani

Imani Hartfield

Anna Jaworski

Katy Kluge

Ryan Rednour

Tatum Tornatta

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