Offensive hitting in volleyball is an important element when it comes to winning matches.

That element was lacking Tuesday night, however, as the SIUC women’s volleyball team fell victim to non-conference opponent Arkansas State University in three games, 15-6, 15-11 and 15-8.

You can’t win when you are hitting only 14 percent, SIUC coach Sonya Locke said. Their hitting percentage was better than ours. Plus, we didn’t have any service aces at all.

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Senior outside hitter, Heather Herdes had 12 kills for the spikers in the losing effort.

After falling to Arkansas State, the Salukis overall record fell to 9-7 on the season.

As tight as the Missouri Valley Conference race is at this point, SIUC is fortunate that Tuesday’s loss was not delivered by a conference team. Nonetheless, Locke detests the loss no matter who delivers it.

Having lost four of its last five matches, there is no doubt the Saluki offense is struggling.

In its last four matches, SIUC has provided a mere .121 hitting percentage, compared to season highs of .207 overall and .228 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Tuesday’s match marked the first time all season in which the Salukis failed to record a service ace.

Herdes, SIUC’s service ace leader thus far this season, has only two aces in her last four outings. Herdes’ national ranking among service ace leaders has recently fallen from the No. 4 spot to No. 9.

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This weekend, the Salukis return to league action when it hosts Creighton on Saturday, and Wichita State on Sunday. Creighton is now 3-7 in the conference. At 4-6, Wichita State’s record is not much of an improvement over Creighton’s.

On Sept. 16, the Salukis came out on top against Creighton, defeating the Lady Jays in three games, 15-0, 15-8, 15-12. The Salukis had a season-high 16 aces against the Lady Jays and recorded its second best hitting percentage of the season at .369.

Despite a scare on Sept. 17, SIUC managed to win its match against Wichita State in five games, 15-7, 10-15, 12-15, 15-12, 17-15.

SIUC can improve to 9-3 in the Valley this weekend, providing they win both matches. Locke said winning both matches is extremely important now that the league race is halfway over.

In order for us to stay in the race, we have to win this weekend, Locke said. In order to have a chance at making the six-team tournament, we have to win both matches this weekend we don’t have a choice.