Before the volleyball season started, the Salukis set a goal of making history by accomplishing what the program has never done before — and they did.

While the team did not meet two of its goals — to win the regular season Missouri Valley Conference title and MVC tournament — they did qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time in the program’s history, and had the best finish in the conference standings.

Here is the SIU volleyball season in review:

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Pippen is one of SIU all-time greats

Senior middle hitter Taylor Pippen finished her SIU career as the programs most efficient attacker.

She led the Salukis in attack efficiency as she had the last three seasons. 

She is a force at the net on the defensive side of the ball, as she holds the SIU record for all-time blocking assists. 

Pippen played in 452 sets in her SIU career, which is No. 3 in the program’s history.

Big Blocking

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The three middle hitters this season contributed on 318 of the Saluki’s 342.5 blocks this season. Sophomore Alex Rosignol led the Salukis, the MVC and ranked No. 10 nationally in blocks per set this season with 1.51.

Four of the top eight blockers in the MVC were Salukis. 

Consistent play at libero

Before the season began, there were four liberos listed on the SIU roster. To replace Alex Rivera, who graduated in the spring, coach Justin Ingram had to decide who would take over the starting position.

Junior libero Mariana Pilon started every match, and played in every set this season for the Salukis. 

This season she tallied 482, which is No. 6 on SIU’s season record list. Her game high digs was against Youngstown State on Sept. 19 when she had 27 digs.

Defensive specialists freshman Tara Routliffe and sophomore Ashley Edelen also saw significant playing time this season.

Edelen was used as a serving specialist for most of the season, and it wasn’t until the last 10 games that she started getting more time in rotation. In the season’s last 10 matches, she had double-digit digs in four of the matches.

Routliffe played in all 33 matches this season. She had double-digit digs in seven matches this year and finished with 218.