Not in our house you don’t, cried the SIUC women’s volleyball team toward non-conference foe Saint Louis University Wednesday night.

After losing its first match, 15-7, the Salukis came back strong to beat the Billikens in the next three matches 15-8, 15-8 and 15-11.

However, in hopes of sending the match into a fifth game, the Billikens made a run in the final match after being down 12-6. Key kills by middle blocker Jody Revoir late in the game helped ensure a Saluki victory.

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They came fighting back, but we did not let them get too far, said senior outside hitter Alicia Hansen. We stuck in there and we did not give up. No one is going to beat us on our home court. That’s our motto.

Hansen contributed 12 kills to help pace the Salukis in perhaps their best match of the season. Five spikers reached double figures in kills, with senior outside hitter Heather Herdes leading the pack with 18. The spikers had a solid .346 hitting percentage in the third game of the match. Defense also played a key role in the contest as SIUC gathered 73 digs. Senior outside hitter Beth Diehl led all spikers with 16 digs.

SIUC improves its overall record to 13-8 on the season. The spikers are 10-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference and host the Valley’s two top teams this weekend Northern Iowa and Drake.

Northern Iowa has won 16 straight matches so far this season. Drake struggled last week in a loss to Bradley on Oct 21.

The Salukis stand a good chance at beating both teams this weekend provided they play as solidly as they did against Saint Louis.

On Wednesday, the spikers demonstrated one aspect of their game that has been lacking the entire season consistency. Even though the element of consistency has arrived somewhat late in the season, senior defensive specialist Shelby Best said it could not have come at a better time.

Hopefully everything is getting consistent toward the end of the season, Best said. This is the best time for it to happen and it’s not too late at all because going into this weekend, we still have six conference matches left, so we can still win them.

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If we get into the conference tournament, anything can happen.

Northern Iowa remains on top of the conference at 13-0, while Drake is second with a 10-3 record. The Salukis lost to both teams on the road earlier in the season.

The spikers will be riding a wave into Davies Gymnasium after Wednesday night’s match against Saint Louis, which was a key victory for the Salukis heading into this weekend’s conference battles.

Diehl said Wednesday’s match gives the Salukis a feel for Nothern Iowa, since the Panthers share some similarities with the Billikens.

Saint Louis has two left-handed hitters on their team, Diehl said. Northen Iowa has a right side player who is left-handed, so this was a great practice game to get ready to play Northern Iowa. It worked out wonderful that we were playing a team that had left-handed people.

SIUC coach Sonya Locke said she told her team that Saint Louis will be a good practice game before facing Northern Iowa.

It’s hard to simulate what you are going to see in a match during practice, Locke said. We don’t have any left-handed people, so for somebody to try and hit left handed, it does not do you any good. It was good that we had it live.

Locke said her team is ready for Drake and Northern Iowa to step into Davies Gymnasium.

There is no question the kids will be ready for them, she said. We’re planning a specific strategy against those two teams and whether it works or not will depend on our execution.

I think we can win and I know what it takes to win.