TERRE HAUTE, IND. - The Indiana State volleyball team dominated the opening set but led leads slip away in the next two and eventually to the visiting Southern Illinois Salukis 1-3 (25-18, 22-25, 23-25, 13-25) in a Missouri Valley Conference contest in the ISU Arena Friday.
Indiana State dropped their fourth straight game as they fell to 9-9 on the season and 1-6 in the Valley. The Sycamores will host Evansville at 7 p.m. (ET) Saturday in the ISU Arena. The Purple Aces lost at Illinois State Friday 1-3 (17-25, 25-17, 19-25, 14-25) and are now 11-10 overall and 1-5 in the Valley. Southern Illinois (9-6, 3-3 MVC) will play at Illinois State (9-10, 3-4 MVC) on Saturday.
It was another career night for a pair of Sycamores as sophomore outside hitter Molly Murphy as she knocked down 14 kills in 43 attempts, both career highs, and junior right side Shea Doran had 12 kills in 32 attempts, also both career highs. Sophomore outside hitter Monique Morris had 14 kills while senior middle blocker Stacy Qualizza had 10 kills and four blocks.
Senior setter Shelbi Fouty posted her sixth double-double of the season in leading Indiana State with 41 assists and 21 digs. Senior Kiya James had 12 digs and Murphy added 11 digs which gave the sophomore her second double-double of the season.
The Sycamores trailed early in the opening set but broke away from a six-all tie and took the lead for good on a Morris kill. Indiana State kept pulling away from there and sealed the 25-18 win on a Qualizza kill off a Fouty set.
Indiana State took a commanding 13-6 lead in the second set but was not able to sustain the effort. Southern Illinois kept cutting into the Sycamore lead but ISU was still up 22-19 on a Qualizza kill. That ended up being the final point for Indiana State in the set as the Salukis scored final six to even the game at one set each with a 25-22 win.
The third set was tight throughout as each side tried to gain the advantage but could not. Indiana State did build a 23-19 lead late in the second but failed to press their advantage as the Salukis again rallied, scoring the final six points for a 25-23 victory.
The final set was all Southern Illinois as the Salukis jumped out to a 7-1 lead and never looked back, closing out the game with 25-13 victory in the fourth set.
Jessica Whitehead had 21 kills to lead Southern Illinois while Alysia Mayes had 13. Rachael Brown recorded 43 assists with Elly Braaten leading the defense with 14 digs. Alexis Braghini had three blocks in the contest.
Kevin Jenison, GoSycamores.com
