Southern Illinois University
5-4,0-0MVC
Louisiana at Monroe
3-7,0-0Sun Belt
Saluki Volleyball wins Central Arkansas Invitational with sweep of ULM
09/10/2022 | 12:30:00 | Women's Volleyball
The Southern Illinois University volleyball team swept the University of Louisiana at Monroe Warhawks in three sets (25-12, 25-19, 25-22) Saturday to close out play at the Central Arkansas Invitational.Â
SIU scored five of the first six points of the first set and never looked back. The Salukis hit .423 in the frame and served up four aces, which included two from Bailey Neuberger. Southern broke an 8-all tie in the second set with back-to-back kills from Nataly Garcia and never surrendered the lead after that. The Salukis again got out to a fast start in the third set, as they scored five of the first six points. ULM made a run to get to within one at 13-12, but SIU scored six of the next eight points to gain the separation it needed to complete its fifth sweep of the 2022 season.
The Salukis had good distribution offensively, as four different hitters put down seven or more kills. Nataly Garcia led the way with an efficient 13 kills and hit at a .310 clip. Imani Hartfield hit .467 with nine kills while Nsia Gittens hit a career-best .538 with eight kills on 13 swings in to just one error. Tatum Tornatta added seven kills and tied her career-best with five block touches. Anna Jaworski handled setting duties for the Salukis and dished out 30 assists to go along with three kills and 10 digs. Claudia Bobb joined Jaworski as the only Salukis with double-digit digs, as SIU's starting libero finished with a team-best 15 digs.
Notable NumbersÂ
5 | All five of SIU's wins have come in straight sets, which are the most sweeps in a season for the Salukis since 2016.
7 | SIU hit .265 in the win over the Warhawks and has now hit over .200 in seven of its nine matches this season. Southern hit over .200 in just seven matches during the entire 2021 season.
7 | Bailey Neuberger tallied seven aces over the weekend, which included two in the win over the Warhawks. She served at least one ace in each of SIU's three matches at the UCA Invitational. Neuberger's 12 aces through eight matches this season have more than doubled her career total. She came into the 2022 season with 11 career aces in 22 career matches.
104 | Tatum Tornatta became the first Saluki this season to reach the century mark for kills with her seven in the win over ULM.Â
Up Next
The Salukis return home next weekend for their final three non-conference matches of the season as part of the Saluki Invitational. Southern will host Alabama A&M, SEMO and Bellarmine during the two-day event set to begin on Friday, Sept. 16.
