SIU volleyball split the weekend matches on the road, and will have home court advantage for the next two weekends.

The Salukis (9-10, 3-4) defeated the Drake Bulldogs (9-8, 1-5) 3-1 on Friday and lost to the Northern Iowa Panthers (12-6, 7-0) 3-0 Saturday.

Drake won the first set 25-22, but the Salukis won the next three. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Andrea Estrada led the team with 17 kills, but it was junior hitter Taylor Pippen who led the team in accuracy with a .700 hitting percentage. Sophomore setter Hannah Kaminsky had 38 assists.

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“Drake won that first one,” coach Justin Ingram said. “As we continued the match, we started to become a little more process oriented.”

Northern Iowa swept the Salukis in three sets. Estrada led the team again with 9 kills. Kaminsky had 14 assists and 11 digs.

Junior middle hitter Autumn Alitz and sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Schulz both had 12 kills for the Panthers. UNI hit .322 as a team.

It was the 1,000^th victory in Northern Iowa’s history.

“UNI is certainly a very talented team that’s well coached,” Ingram said. “They have a history of competing. These players get after it and they don’t stop.”

SIU hosts Wichita State (10-7, 4-3) at 7 p.m., Friday and Missouri State (11-7, 5-2) 7 p.m., Saturday at Davies Gym.