Southern Illinois University
3-5,0-0MVC
Eastern Illinois University
5-1,0-0OVC
Volleyball splits on day one of Saluki Invitational
09/10/2021 | 8:59:00 | Women's Volleyball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University volleyball swept the USC Upstate Spartans in straight-sets (25-19, 26-24, 25-17) Friday evening inside Banterra Center. Southern's victory marked the program's first-ever win over a Big South Conference program.
The Salukis (4-5) were led offensively by Nsia Gittens, who tied a career-high with 14 kills. Nataly Garcia chipped in eight kills and 10 digs, while Tatum Tornatta tallied eight kills and three blocks.
Defensively, Katy Kluge led the way with 13 digs to go along with five assists and four aces. Anna Jaworski notched her second career assist-dig double-double with 33 assists and 10 digs.
SIU scored the first four points of the first set and were able to gain separation whenever USC Upstate got close. After the Spartans took a 14-12 lead, Southern dialed up a four-point run to turn its two point deficit into a two point advantage. The Spartans got to within one, 16-15, but the Salukis scored five of the next six points to effectively put the set out of reach.
USC Upstate flipped the script and scored the first four points of the second set. The Spartans increased their lead to 15-10 courtesy of a 3-0 run and later went ahead 18-11 before the Salukis used seven-straight points with Alex Washington at the service line to tie the frame at 18-all. The two sides traded points from there, with the score tied six times before Southern broke a 24-all tie with back-to-back points to take the set.
Southern kept its foot on the pedal in the third set, as it used a 3-1 spurt to break a 9-all tie and never looked back. SIU sided out 66-percent of the time, its highest percentage in any set against USC Upstate, and held the Spartans to a .057 hitting percentage.
SIU vs. Eastern Illinois
The Southern Illinois University volleyball team suffered a five-set loss (25-21, 25-17, 11-25, 22-25, 7-15) to the Eastern Illinois Panthers Friday afternoon inside Banterra Center.
The Salukis (3-5) hit .303 in its 25-21 set one win and followed by hitting .313 in their 25-17 set two victory. The Panthers seized momentum in the third set, as they scored 13 of the first 14 points of the frame to extend the match. In the fourth frame, Eastern Illinois broke an 8-all tie with six of the next eight points and never trailed after that to force a decisive fifth set. In the fifth, SIU tied up the set at 6-all with a kill from Nataly Garcia, but the Panthers scored nine of the set's final 10 points to escape with the win.
Southern totaled five aces but struggled with both missed serves and serve receive. The Salukis finished with 10 service errors and a season-high 11 reception errors.
Tatum Tornatta put down a career-high 18 kills and was one of four Salukis to put down double figure terminations. Nataly Garcia finished a dig shy of her third kill-dig double-double of the season, as she went for 17 kills and nine digs. Margherita Giani hit .524 with 12 kills to just one error while Nsia Gittens tallied 10 kills. It marked the third time in her last four matches that Gittens has put dow double-digit kills.
Defensively, Katy Kluge led the Salukis with 16 digs, three assists and an ace. MacKenzie Houser chipped in eight digs an ace while Anna Jaworski dished out 54 assists to go along with six digs and an ace.
UP NEXT: SIU closes out the Saluki Invitational tomorrow against Alabama State at 1:30 p.m.
