Volleyball finishes road stint with trips to UIC, Valpo

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois Volleyball will finish its five-match road trip at UIC and Valparaiso beginning Friday, Oct. 24, in Chicago, Ill.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE:

Friday: at UIC, 6 p.m., Live Stats | Watch
Saturday: at Valparaiso, 6 p.m., Live Stats | Watch

SERIES HISTORY:

Southern leads the all-time series against UIC 15-11, but the Braves have four in a row, including this season's match on Oct. 10, where they swept the Salukis.
Valparaiso has largely controlled its series with Southern, now leading 13-6 after a reverse-sweep of the Salukis on Oct. 11.

LAST TIME OUT:

SIU defeated Bradley and Illinois State on the road last weekend, reverse-sweeping the Braves and sweeping the Redbirds. The Salukis now sit at 10-12 overall, and 4-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference good enough for sixth in the standings, which is the cutoff to make the conference tournament.

QUICK HITS:

The Southern Illinois Women's Volleyball team was picked ninth in the annual coaches' Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll. UNI led the poll once again with 120 points and 10 of the 11 first-place votes.
Southern Illinois returns eight players from the 2024 season: five outside hitters, two middle blockers, and one defensive specialist.
Eva Krakowski had a career-high 10 blocks against Murray State on Sept. 26, a mark that is tied for the most in The Valley this season. She is tied for eighth in the MVC with 69 total blocks.
In 2025's season-opening win over Sam Houston, Annabelle Sulish set her career high in kills with 23. She is eighth in the MVC with 237 total kills, and is 10th in kills per set (2.89). She also ranks eighth in total points (266). The Knoxville, Tenn., native became the 17th player in Saluki history to eclipse 1,000 kills on Oct. 4 against Belmont.
Setter Emma Lade had 40 assists in the season-opening win over Sam Houston, the most by a Saluki setter since Anna Jaworski had 51 assists on Nov. 16, 2022. She ranks second in The Valley in total assists (588) and third in assists per set (6.61). She also has 24 aces, which is fifth in The Valley.
Freshman setter Addison Kerr has made a big impact this season. She had the best game of her young freshman career in a loss to New Mexico State on Sept. 5, tallying 27 assists.
As a team, Southern Illinois is second in The Valley with 132 service aces.
Larissa Seger set a career-high with 15 kills against Eastern Illinois on Sept. 6, and currently ranks third in the MVC in hitting percentage (.352). Seger has also impressed from the service line with 33 aces, second in The Valley. She is second in The Valley with 85 total blocks and is fifth with 1.03 blocks per set.
Jillian Shaneyfelt is third in the MVC with 360 digs, and is seventh in digs per set with 4.14. She had a career-high 28 digs in the Oct. 17 reverse-sweep of Bradley.
Cecilia Bulmahn is tied for eighth in the MVC with 252 digs. She is also tied for sixth in service aces with 25. In Southern's Oct. 3 loss to Indiana State, she became the sixth Saluki in history to reach 1,250 digs in her career.
Kelly Franklin has been ultra-efficient from the outside this season, hitting .318, which is sixth in the MVC. She has 265 kills, which leads the team and also ranks second in The Valley, and is ninth with 3.05 kills per set. She has 11 matches hitting over .350. On Oct. 11, she set a career-high with 23 kills. The Lake Worth, Fla., native ranks fourth in the MVC with 287.5 points, and is tenth in points per set (3.30).
Ella Swansiger had the best match of her Saluki career in the reverse-sweep win over Bradley on Oct. 17, tallying a career-high 20 kills in the comeback effort.
Southern had 10 aces in the four-set win over Oakland and in the loss to SEMO, both tied for the most in The Valley thus far. They also lead The Valley with the most aces in five sets, putting down 13 against McNeese State. In the Sept. 26 win over Murray State, they had 63 assists, tied for the most in the MVC in a four-set match.

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Keep up with all the latest news and information on the Salukis by following the team on X (@SIU_Volleyball), Instagram (@SIU_Volleyball) and Facebook (SalukiVolleyball). Fans can also download the Salukis Mobile App on the App Store or Google Play Store.

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Players Mentioned

Cecilia Bulmahn

Kelly Franklin

Anna Jaworski

Addison Kerr

Eva Krakowski

Emma Lade

Larissa Seger

Jillian Shaneyfelt

Annabelle Sulish

Ella Swansiger

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