It took all five sets for SIU Volleyball to defeat Delaware (18-25, 25-22, 25-18, 17-25, 21-19) in the first match of the season on Friday.

In the final set, senior hitter Taylor Pippen converted five kills on seven attempts, which boosted her hitting percentage to .571. Last year Pippen was ranked 11th in the country for hitting percentage at .410.

“I knew the pressure was on in that fifth set,” Pippen said. “I talked to my setters and let them know if they got it to me I would put it down.”

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Junior Mariana Pilon started at libero and recorded 23 digs in the match. 

“We can improve a lot more, but it was a good start,” Pilon said. “I need to work on my passing — [we] can’t get aced.”

Delaware had 16 service aces compared to SIU’s six. Fourteen of the Fightin’ Blue Hens’ service aces were because of a Saluki reception error.

“Service retrieval was a bit erratic,” Coach Justin Ingram said. “We caused out-of-system plays off of our serves as well.”

Today’s victory was the first of three games this weekend. After a long first game, Ingram will be looking for fatigue on the court tomorrow.

The Salukis against Northern Colorado play at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the UCF/Holiday Inn Express Invitational.

Evan Jones can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @EvanJones_DE. 

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