SIU volleyball bounces back with win against Indiana State

Daily Egyptian file photo

Daily Egyptian file photo

By Jonathan Thompson

Fresh off its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season, SIU volleyball regrouped at home Friday against Indiana State.

The Salukis gained their second sweep of the year, beating the Sycamores 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22).

“We were very disappointed from the Loyola game so we came out firing for this game,” senior setter/hitter Meg Viggars said. “We had to win it because every match in this conference matters, so dropping that one last week was a real bummer for us.”

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Viggars helped the team, scoring eight kills along with 26 assists, three aces and a block.

The Salukis (14-6, 5-1 MVC) led Indiana State (7-10, 1-4 MVC) in almost every statistical category, such as total kills (53-36), assists (48-34) and team attack percentage (.314 – .222).

Junior outside hitter Andrea Estrada led all players in kills with 15 on .414 hitting and eight digs.

Fellow junior outside hitter Nellie Fredriksson contributed 10 kills with .400 hitting. The pair were the only two Salukis to crack double digits in kills.

The Dawgs came out strong in the first set with a .316 hitting percentage while limiting Indiana State to .188.

In the second set, SIU caught fire raising its hitting percentage to .395 and didn’t make anything easy for the Sycamores, keeping their percentages at .235.

The third set was the closest.

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Freshmen outside hitter Ginger Perinar stepped up by providing two key late kills that allowed the Dawgs to finish the match.

SIU Coach Justin Ingram had high praise for his team’s performance.

“We played well. Our attack efficiencies were high, our kill percent was real high,” he said. “Our side-out percentage is way above what our standard is. That’s a sign of gaining the point quickly. Anytime you can gain the point quickly, that’s tough on any opponent.”

The Dawgs will try to sweep the weekend against Illinois State at 7 p.m. Saturday in Davies Gym.

Staff writer Jonathan Thompson can be reached at [email protected].

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