The Dawgs traveled to Murray, Kentucky to play the Racers in a heavily anticipated Friday, September 23 matchup. Last season, the Salukis left something to be desired, as they lost every single conference game. 

That won’t be the case this season, however, as the Salukis have already knocked off the Missouri Valley newcomers. They defeated Murray State in a five-set fashion.

The first two sets were highly intense. Both teams came out with aggressiveness to try and put themselves ahead. Southern Illinois managed to escape in the first set, 25-22. 

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Murray State tied it up in the second set, 25-22, which put SIU on the ropes. 

It became an increasingly high-pressure game when the Racers put a 25-16 dominance on the Salukis in the third set. With this, SIU was staring down the barrel and had to put it all out there in the fourth set in order to stay alive. 

This they did, and returned the favor to Murray State winning 25-17 in order to tie the game series 2-2. Southern Illinois had to put together one last effort on the road in order to escape the idea of another grueling season of conference play.

SIU won the final match, 15-13, which means the Salukis are now 1-0 in conference play. 

The top performer on the night for the Dawgs had to be junior Tatum Tornatta, who finished with 16 kills and three blocks. Junior Imani Hartfield also had crucial kills down the stretch, which lead to a pretty impressive 16-kill-one-block statline. 

The defensive attack was led by Tornatta’s three blocks and a season-high 27 digs from freshman Claudia Bobb. 

The Salukis play Belmont on Saturday, September 24, on the second game of an MVC road trip. This will be Belmont’s introductory game into the conference as well, which SIU hopes to spoil at 5 p.m. CT. 

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Assistant Sports Editor Cole Daily can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at cdaily_deTo stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter

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