Dawgs bounce back after cat chase

By Aaron Graff

SIU volleyball doesn’t have to worry about playing more than two matches in a 24-hour period again until Thanksgiving for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

The Salukis (4-6) hosted the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons (5-5), the Kansas State University Wildcats (9-1) and the Marshall University Thundering Herd (4-5) this weekend in the Saluki Invitational at SIU Arena.

SIU went 2-1 in the tournament, beating IPFW and Marshall, but losing to KSU.

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The Arena brought in more than 1,200 fans for the Salukis’ matches, including 564 for the KSU match.

“It’s kind of the first time I’ve had a crowd like this for a college game because we’ve always been away,” freshman hitter Abby Barrow said.

Barrow said the team had trouble stopping the Wildcats’ scoring runs, but she thinks the Salukis could have beaten them another day.

Coach Justin Ingram said he was happy to end tournament play on a high note after winning 3-1 against Marshall on Saturday.

“Tournaments are the third match in 24 hours,” Ingram said. “That’s hard. It takes a lot of work in order to manufacture the positivity and manufacture the work ethic and manufacture the things that it takes over the course of [a match].”

Senior libero/defensive specialist Alex Rivera said she was grateful for the opportunity to have a tough non-conference schedule this season.

“It’s very good that we’re facing good opponents this early in the season,” Rivera said. “In the end our focus is our conference. We’re going to try to get back in it and win this thing.”

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Redshirt freshman outside hitter Andrea Estrada led the Salukis in kills with 36, while sophomore setter/hitter Meg Viggars had 28 kills and 66 assists.

“I don’t know if we call [Viggars] our Swiss Army Knife,” Ingram said. “But she has about every tool.”

Viggars credited her successful weekend to additional practice time and communication with the hitters.

“The whole team is helping me work together and helping give me confidence,” she said. “I think I’m just getting a lot of sets in, practice in and staying extra if I need to.”

Estrada and junior hitter Taylor Pippen were named to the All Tournament Team.

The Salukis play against the University of Tennessee at Martin at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Martin, Tenn.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], on Twitter @Aarongraff_DE or (815)-483-3781

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