With weekend wins over Creighton and Wichita State, the SIUC women’s volleyball team improves to 9-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

The Salukis now share a third place ranking with Illinois State as the Valley race heats up. Since the Valley is so tight, staying in the race is more vital than ever, according to SIUC coach Sonya Locke.

What this is about right now is staying in the race, Locke said. Every match counts from here on out, and if we are going to do this right, we can’t afford to play around with any team we play.

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Playing around is just what SIUC did against Creighton.

SIUC lost its first game in the four-game roller coaster ride 15-6, but came back to win the next three, including blanking the Lady Jays in the third game.

Senior outside hitter Heather Herdes led the Saluki attack with 15 kills, and Senior middle blocker Kelly Parke added 11 kills.

Parke said Creighton has improved since the two teams met on Sept. 16.

They were a lot more confident this time, Parke said They came in ready to fight. There were times when we were just surviving, then there were times when we were dominating like the third game.

Parke said the spikers offense is still lacking consistency when it comes to putting teams away.

Our offense is still not where we want it to be, she said. We are just not consistent.

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SIUC beat Wichita State in three games Sunday, 15-3, 15-10 and 15-8, but had a tough time burying the Schockers.

We missed serves at key times and we were a little lethargic on defense at times, Locke said. There were times when the ball was falling in the gray areas and we weren’t communicating enough to get the balls to the right spots.

Herdes led the spikers offense with 16 kills. Senior setter Kim Golebiewski had 18 digs in the victory.

SIUC heads to Tulsa on Friday, before facing a tough Southwest Missouri State team on Sunday. SMSU is right on the heels of the Salukis and are the team to watch out for in the Valley.

Tulsa has sole possession of last place in the Valley and poses no apparent threat to any team.

Locke said she does not pay any attention to a teams record, no matter if it is undefeated Northern Iowa or a struggling Tulsa squad.

Wins are not given to you and I don’t care what the record of a team is, she said. These are not going to be easy matches. We are focused on making sure our serving is intact and we make sure that when we go on the road we are confident that we will win.