CARBONDALE, ILL. - In a league where you can't afford an off night, it was Southern Illinois that parlayed a .285 hitting percentage into a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-10) Missouri Valley Conference volleyball victory over Drake on Saturday evening (Nov. 15).
The loss officially eliminated the Bulldogs from the race for the final spot in the upcoming six-team MVC Tournament and dropped the squad to 11-19 overall, including 4-12 in league play. The Salukis improved their ledger to 16-11 and 6-10 in the MVC.
“It is disappointing that we were eliminated from contention for the MVC Tournament, but we knew it was going to be tough road and we were going to need a lot of help,” Drake head coach
Phil McDaniel commented. “We still want to play well next week and finish our season on a positive note.”
The Bulldogs were stymied by the Salukis' defensive effort on the evening as Drake was held to a season-low 23 kills.
Attack marks for both sides fell each set but on the strength of 49 kills and 51 digs the Salukis secured the season sweep of the Bulldogs.
“It was a tough loss on road as Southern Illinois played very well and was sharp offensively,” McDaniel said. “Unfortunately, we didn't respond soon enough in each set.”
Sophomore
Angela Bys (Marion, Iowa/Marion) led Drake with six kills, while sophomore
Alana Wittenburg (Readlyn, Iowa/Wapsie Valley) and junior
Emily Madden (Van Meter, Iowa/Adel DeSoto Minburn) contributed 19 and 10 digs, respectively.
Drake was limited to a season-low 20 assists in the contest and in the process, Southern Illinois kept junior
Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) under double-digit assists for the first time in 31 matches. Lauersdorf recorded a team-best nine assists.
The Salukis received a pair of double-doubles from Jennifer Berwanger (18 kills and 16 digs) and Brooklyn Robbins (40 assists and 10 digs).
Southern Illinois outperformed the Bulldogs in kills (49-23), assists (44-20), digs (77-51), blocks (7.0-5.0) and service aces (9-3).
Drake returns home this week as the Bulldogs close out their campaign with home matches against Northern Iowa (Nov. 20) and Bradley (Nov. 21). Both tilts get underway at 7:00 p.m.
