SIU Volleyball (5-23, 0-15 MVC) spent most of their weekend over in Iowa this past Friday and Saturday, where they competed against the University of Northern Iowa (11-16, 6-8 MVC) and Drake University (10-12, 5-9 MVC). The Salukis dropped both matches where they lost 3-1 to Northern Iowa and 3-0 to Drake.

Highlighting the weekend for the Salukis were junior Nataly Garcia and sophomore Alex Washington, who tied for the lead in kills across both games with 22 coming from both. Washington and sophomore Tatum Tornatta both led the Salukis in Kills against UNI with 13, while Garcia led on Saturday against Drake with 12.

Washington also recorded 25 digs across both days, enough for second in that statistic behind senior Katy Kluge who tallied 33 across both days, including a 20 dig performance against UNI on Friday.

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Assisting the Salukis well was freshman Anna Jaworski. Jaworski tallied 44 total assists throughout both days, with 23 coming against UNI and 21 against Drake.

SIU lost in four sets on Friday against the Panthers. The first set went back and forth throughout most, but went UNI’s way late with five straight points after hitting a 14-all tie. UNI maintained their lead throughout the rest of the first set with a 25-17 win.

Set two started with SIU taking the first four points and ultimately a 5-1 lead to start things off. Things tightened up midway with a couple ties happening at 16-16, 18-18, 20-20, and 21-21, but a 4-1 run to end the match by the Salukis gave them the set win and tied things up at one all.

Set three was once again close, with neither team leading by more than two points until late when an error on the Salukis gave UNI a 4 point lead at 24-20 and then finally sealed it two points later at 25-21.

Set four started off huge for the Salukis, with SIU earning six points in a row early to give them a 7-3 lead. The Panthers kept things close until the 12-10 mark, when a 3-0 run of their own gave them the 13-12 lead. Just like UNI earlier, SIU managed to keep their deficit around the 1-2 mark for the next couple points, until a 4-1 run for UNI gave them a 23-19 lead that they would ultimately keep until the set was over at 25-22, earning them the match win over the Salukis.

Saturday’s match against Drake started off close in set one, with ties at the four, five, six, seven, and ten point marks, until Drake went on a 7-2 run to give them the lead at 17-12. SIU fought to get within 3 at certain points throughout the rest of the set, but not any further and Drake took set one at 25-20.

Set two went big for the Bulldogs, with them taking seven of the first nine points and ultimately a 12-5 lead at one point, but SIU tallied off five points in a row to bring them within two points of Drake. With drake leading 14-12, they brought on a 10-2 run to put them up big time at 24-14 and ultimately won the set 25-15.

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SIU’s last chance was in set three where they got down early yet again at 5-7, but inched back towards a 8-7 lead after taking three points in a row. With things tied up at 10-all, a 4-1 Drake run gave them the lead once again at 14-11. SIU kept things within two for a long time and even tied it again at 19-all and 21-all, but a 4-1 run to finish the match off by Drake gave them the set and ultimately the match win at 25-22.

SIU will continue their season this friday, November 12 with their last away game of the year against the Missouri State University Bears in Springfield, Missouri. The match will start with a 6 p.m tip-off.

Sports reporter Joseph Bernard can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @Jojobernard2001. 

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