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Salukis are looking for a turnaround — and fast.
The SIU volleyball team (15-7, 3-7 Missouri Valley Conference) will need to rally in the second half of its season in order to qualify for the conference tournament.
The Salukis started their season 11-0, with 10 of those victories against non-conference opponents. Since the strong start, SIU has gone 4-7 with only three wins against conference foes and one run of back-to-back victories.
Junior outside hitter Jennifer Berwanger said the key to a second-half turnaround was keeping the team’s confidence high.
“We just have to play as good as we know we are,” Berwanger said. “If we go out there and expect to compete in every match, we will be able to bounce back.”
Berwanger is the team leader in kills (300), kills per set (3.57) and is second on the team in digs with 303 — behind only sophomore libero Lauren Blumhorst who has 323.
The team is one game behind the Evansville Purple Aces for the sixth place spot in the conference.
A team has to finish in the top six to qualify for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. SIU missed out on the tournament on the final game of the season last year, and Berwanger said the team is determined to not miss out on it again.
“We absolutely are good enough,” Berwanger said. “I have a lot of confidence in us.”
Over the last three matches, SIU is 2-1 as it came off of a season worst four-match losing streak. Its two wins came against the winless-in-conference Bradley Braves (9-16, 0-11) and non-conference opponent Southeastern Missouri State University (8-13, 4-6 Ohio Valley Conference).
The loss came against Northern Iowa (20-2, 11-0 MVC), who swept the season series against SIU.
Head coach Brenda Winkeler said the Northern Iowa loss could be the turning point for the season.
“I said in the locker room, ‘could this be it?’” Winkeler said. “Could this be the turning point in the season? When you are playing aggressive and hard, good things happen.”
The team dropped the first game in an eventual 3-1 loss, 25-12. Winkeler said the team’s focus was not in the match.
SIU out-hit Northern Iowa in the second and third games and captured a 25-23 victory in the third game. SIU was out-hit .366 to .295 in the final game, a 25-21 loss.
“It felt really good to hang in there against UNI,” freshman middle blocker Alysia Mayes said. “It proved that we belong in our conference.”
Of the seven matches left on the season, SIU has to play on the road in five of them. SIU is 10-3 on the road this season, but only one of those wins were conference victories as the Salukis are 1-3 in conference road matches.
Winkeler said it does not matter where the Salukis play, they just have to play hard in order to get back into the MVC Tournament after missing it by one game last season.
The next two road matches are against Indiana State and Illinois State. The last time SIU played these teams, it lost against Illinois State 3-1 and defeated Indiana State 3-1.
Illinois State has defeated SIU in 36 straight regular season matches.
“We just have to go out there now and win some tough road matches,” Mayes said.
Derek Robbins can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269.
