Salukis hit road to face Creighton, Drake this weekend

Factoid:The game will be broadcast live at http://jayslive.creighton.edu at 7 p.m.

SIU volleyball head coach Sonya Locke wasn’t trying to be offensive with the comment she made at Wednesday evening’s practice.

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She was just telling it how it is.

“The preseason rankings don’t mean jack,” Locke exclaimed.

So when the Salukis (2-7) begin the Missouri Valley Conference season tonight with a contest at Creighton – slated to finish No. 9 in the preseason coaches’ poll – and Saturday at Drake – picked No. 8 – Locke won’t be taking either lightly.

“Every team in our conference is capable of beating any team in the conference,” Locke said.

The message has sunk in with her players, who won’t be taking anything lightly either.

Senior Kelly Harman, who has been around the MVC as a player the last five seasons, knows exactly what to expect entering conference play.

She just hopes the rest of the young Salukis catch on.

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“A lot of the competition that we’ve seen in the past three weeks isn’t to the level that our conference is,” Harman said. “We play in a really great conference so I hope everybody realizes that and comes ready to play because these are the games that count.”

With the goal of proving the prognosticators wrong – SIU was predicted to finish seventh in the MVC- as they did last season when they went from being ranked sixth all the way to the Valley championship game, the Dawgs desperately want a return trip to the league tournament.

To reach their goal, the season starts now for the Salukis, who know just what the conference season means to their tournament hopes.

“Everything,” freshman outside hitter Ashley Saverine said. “It’s the world.”

Not that the past three weeks of competition can easily be forgotten. Giving them the chance to mold together as a team and to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, the Salukis have come a long way since they first stepped on to the court for the Best Inns/Saluki Invitational Aug. 29.

But in Locke’s eyes, they still have a long way to go.

“I would like to be a little more cohesive than we are right now,” Locke said. “But since that’s not where we’re at, we’re working with what we have and are going to go from there.”

SIU’s opponents this weekend probably aren’t satisfied with where they are at either. After beginning the season off with hot starts, each has fizzled off as of late.

Drake, led by outside hitter Stacy Boerema (173 kills, 4.32 kpg and 1.17 digs per game), began its season 7-1 before losing its last three matches.

Creighton, in its first year under the leadership of head coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, has dropped its last six matches after a 2-1 start.

Tonight’s match will be the first in Creighton volleyball history to be played at the Omaha Civic Center, home of Bluejay basketball.

Reporter Adam Soebbing can be reached at [email protected]