The SIU volleyball team extended its losing streak on Friday, but bounced back Saturday to start a winning streak.

The Salukis (8-9, 2-3) fell to the Loyola Ramblers (6-8, 2-3) in four sets Friday, but rebounded by sweeping the Bradley Braves (0-16, 0-6) Saturday.

Loyola won the first two sets against SIU. The Ramblers trailed 24-22 in the third set before they rallied for a 25-24 lead for match point. The Salukis did not give up though, and eventually forced a fourth set with a 27-25 win.

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“As the match progressed we were starting to feel more comfortable,” coach Justin Ingram said. “Comfortable should mean a sense of urgency to score more points, not a sense of urgency to relax on defense.”

Despite their best efforts in the fourth set, the Salukis lost it 25-23 to give them a three-match losing streak.

“We’re not very good right now,” Ingram said. “I think we’re very inconsistent. It showed throughout the course of the match again. We struggle defending.”

SIU swept Bradley on Saturday to snap the streak. The Salukis started with a 25- 12 win in the first set and kept momentum through the match.

“We were in control for, I think, 98 percent of the match,” Ingram said.

Junior hitter Taylor Pippen and redshirt freshman outside hitter Andrea Estrada led the team with 21 kills each this weekend.

“Me and my setters are connecting,” Pippen said. “They were able to give me the ball. They were giving me good balls, the passes were on.”

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Estrada had only 6 errors this weekend. She had twice as many last weekend against Illinois State and Indiana State.

“My coaches identified what I was doing wrong,” Estrada said. “They remind me every time what to do. Every play they remind me to stay open on the hitting or the block.”

Estrada said she played smarter this weekend with softer kills, rather than spiking it as hard as she can every attempt.

“It’s not all about being hard and getting the good kills,” Estrada said. “It’s also about being smart. If you see the space and you know that if you tip it, it’s going to be a kill… a hard point is not going to give you two points or three, if it’s hard. It’s going to be one, the same as a tip.”

Ingram said the team has to be more consistent through the rest of the year to be successful.