Daily Egyptian Reporter 14

Seniors Traci Eggers and Erika Holladay ended their home careers on a positive note as the SIUC volleyball team defeated Drake University Saturday to keep its Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes alive.

The Salukis were able to rebound from a loss to Creighton University Friday night to sweep Drake 15-12, 15-5, 15-8. Marlo Moreland’s 15 kills and 18 digs paced SIUC.

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The Salukis, 13-13 overall and 8-8 in the MVC, are tied for sixth place with Southwest Missouri State University.

Eggers and Holladay were honored prior to the beginning of the match as part of the Senior Night festivities.

For Holladay, an outside hitter from Pine Bluffs, Wyo., the experience brought out how important volleyball is to her, but she knows it is time move on. She had two kills and two digs in her final appearance at Davies Gymnasium.

It’s emotional you dedicate part of your life to the sport, Holladay said. But now you can go on to other parts of your life because there is more to life than volleyball.

Eggers, an outside hitter from Rantoul, ended her home career by recording a key dig in game three, resulting in the Salukis’ final point of the night.

SIUC coach Sonya Locke said it was a team goal to get Eggers and Holladay to leave with a victory.

I really do think the younger ones wanted to send the seniors out of here with a win, she said. The team decided they were going to play hard and with a lot of intensity.

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Unfortunately for the Salukis, the loss to Creighton has put added pressure on the team.

Creighton upped its record to 13-10 overall and 10-6 in the conference. The Lady Jays’ strong defensive play caused the Salukis problems in the 15-11, 15-12, 13-15, 15-10 setback.

Creighton is a good defensive team, Locke said. We didn’t do a good job of keeping the ball in play and made some hitting errors that cost us.

Southwest Missouri State upset the University of Northern Iowa and defeated Bradley University over the weekend to keep pace with the Salukis. Both SIUC and SMSU have two conference games remaining.

But Moreland said the MVC tournament is within reach, if the team can build off Saturday’s win against Drake.

If we play like we played (Saturday night), we’ll have no problem of making the tournament, Moreland said. It was a great win because everybody contributed.

SMSU has a tough match against conference leader Illinois State University, but Locke does not want her players to count on SMSU losing to ISU.

I’m a firm believer that we are in total control of getting in or not, Locke said. I would rather us win our way in vs. losing and have to worry about someone else losing or winning. Our kids are either going to respond and do what it takes to make the conference tournament, or they’re not.

The Saluki volleyball team will play Bradley University Friday in Peoria and the University of Northern Iowa Saturday in Cedar Falls, Iowa.