 "Photo: Edyta Blaszczyk ~ Daily Egyptian")
The Salukis refused to lose to Illinois State again.
The SIU volleyball team defeated Indiana State 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 26-24) Friday and Illinois State 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-17) Saturday.
SIU’s victory over Illinois State was its first victory over the Redbirds since 1990, ending a 36-match regular season losing streak.
Senior middle blocker Chandra Roberson said the victory should establish the Salukis as a threat to the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“It felt really good to finally get that win,” Roberson said. “It shows that we are ready to step up and be one of the best teams in conference.”
Roberson said the win was important for the Salukis (17-7, 6-7 MVC) because it helped keep the momentum going from the previous weekend’s match against first-place Northern Iowa.
The first game in the match against Illinois State (10-14, 5-8) was not a memorable one for SIU, despite the win. The Salukis had 13 errors in the game and hit .020 compared to the Redbirds’ six errors and .071 hitting percentage.
Head coach Brenda Winkeler said the first game was sloppy.
“If we wanted to get the win, we needed to play much better in the last two sets,” Winkeler said.
In the first game, junior outside hitter Jennifer Berwanger committed five of the Salukis’ 13 errors and had zero kills.
Berwanger said she tried not to think too much about her first set mistakes.
“When coach told us we had 13 errors in the first set, I saw that I had five of those,” Berwanger said. “So I tried to steady myself over the last two sets and I think I did better.”
Berwanger finished the game with 12 kills and 24 digs.
The Salukis played much cleaner in the last two sets, committing only five errors in the second game and two errors in the final game.
The Redbirds had six errors in the second set and eight errors in the third set.
“I was really excited to beat Illinois State,” Berwanger said. “If we keep beating teams we may not usually beat, we will be sitting pretty for the tournament.”
SIU managed to avoid being swept by Illinois State on the season. Illinois State beat SIU 3-1 in Carbondale on Oct. 2.
On Friday, SIU defeated Indiana State 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 26-24), which earned the Salukis a season sweep as they defeated the Sycamores 3-1 in Carbondale on Oct. 3.
The Salukis did not trail the entire match and were only tied with Indiana State six times. SIU hit .381 in the match, while Indiana State hit .184.
“I thought we played very well tonight,” Winkeler said. “It was one of our best performances of the year, especially serving and passing, which allowed us to have a very balanced offense.”
Berwanger recorded 13 kills in the match and junior right side hitter Alicia Johnson had nine. Roberson led the Salukis with a team-high .714 hitting percentage; recording five kills in seven attempts with no attack errors.
“We had a really strong weekend,” Roberson said. “It was important for us to come out and win these games and we did.”
SIU returns home for the final time this weekend with a match Friday against Wichita State (18-4, 9-3) and a match Saturday against Missouri State (17-7, 10-2) for the team’s senior night.
Both teams beat SIU in straight sets earlier in the season with Missouri State beating SIU on Oct. 9, and Wichita State beating SIU on Oct. 10.
Berwanger said the team is coming into the last home weekend looking to make a statement.
“The biggest statement we could make is to win against them both,” Berwanger said. “I would love to do that.”
Derek Robbins can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269.
