DES MOINES, IOWA. ? With the lights nearly out on her brilliant career, Drake senior Samantha Nelson (Ceresco, Neb./Raymond Central) added another stellar performance to her lengthy Bulldog resume as she tallied a match-high 16 kills in her final home Missouri Valley Conference tilt, but the effort went for naught as Southern Illinois registered a 3-0 (30-28, 30-15, 34-32) victory over Drake on Saturday evening (Nov. 3).
Joining her in post-match senior day festivities was fellow senior Sarah Schuster (Indianola, Iowa/Indianola), who finished the evening with a 34-assist, eight-dig effort.
The Salukis improved to 13-13 overall and 5-9 in the MVC following the victory, while the Bulldogs fall to 7-19 on the campaign, including 4-10 in league action.
The first game went down to the wire before Southern Illinois escaped with a 30-28 triumph. The Salukis, who attacked the ball at a .333 clip en route to a 30-15 victory, dominated the second stanza.
The Bulldogs held the advantage for most of the third game before the Salukis squared the score at 20 on a Jennifer Berwanger service ace. From there on, the final game went down like a title fight as each side fired jab after jab at one another with neither side being willing to flinch. It was ultimately back-to-back kills by Berwanger, which gave Southern Illinois the victory.
Freshman Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) finished with 10 kills and came up one dig shy of her seventh double-double as she recorded nine for the Bulldogs.
Sophomore Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay, Wis./Williams Bay) and freshman Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) shared top match honors with 11 digs apiece.
Chandra Roberson paced the Salukis with a team-best 15 kills, while Kelsie Laughlin and Berwanger each collected 10 digs.
Southern Illinois finished the affair bettering the Bulldogs in kills (45-42), assists (41-37), services aces (11-3) and blocks (11.0-2.0), while Drake bested the Salukis by one dig (48-47).
Southern Illinois notched a .218 hitting percentage and held the Bulldogs to .104 attack mark.
The Bulldogs close out their home slate versus South Dakota State on Monday (Nov. 5) at 6:00 p.m.
