CARBONDALE, Ill. – Sophomore outside hitter Bree Spangler posted her ninth double-double on 16 kills and 17 digs but Indiana State Volleyball couldn't hang on as it fell to Southern Illinois, 3-1, (29-27, 17-25, 17-25, 19-25) on Friday at Davies Gym in front of 615 fans. The Sycamores snap a four-game conference win streak and move to 14-8 overall and 6-4 in MVC play.
Southern Illinois (10-12, 4-6 MVC) put on a block party, tallying a season-high 14.0 blocks overall behind a .254 hitting percentage. Indiana State was held to a .161 hitting percentage and hindered by 10 service receptions.
“I have to give credit to Southern Illinois tonight,” ISU head coach Traci Dahl-Skinner said. “They came to play in front of a loud home crowd and following our set one win, we just couldn't get anything going. Hopefully we can regroup in tomorrow's match at Evansville.”
Senior middle blocker Kyla Thomas and freshman outside hitter Sarah Peterson each recorded seven kills for Indiana State, to go along with six each from junior outside hitter Victoria Swigart and sophomore middle blocker Kynedi Nalls.
Junior setter Erika Nord dished out 42 assists to go along with three kills while also posting seven digs. Freshman libero Danielle Waedekin added eight digs and freshman defensive specialist Stephanie Bindernagel had seven.
In set one, back-to-back kills by Nalls tied it up at 11, but four straight points by the Salukis forced a Sycamore timeout. Southern continued to stretch its lead to as many as six, but ISU chipped away on a Peterson with a kill and a Bindernagel service ace.
A kill by Southern extended it back to a two point lead, 23-21. The two teams traded service errors before a Peterson big kill on an over pass tied it up at 24-24.
A Murphy service error and a dump by SIU's Meg Viggars gave the home team an advantage yet again. But a kill by Peterson followed by her own service error tied it up at 27-27.
Thomas hammered down the kill and ISU went on to win the set on an SIU net violation, 29-27.
ISU started off set two with consecutive kills from Spangler, but five straight points for Salukis helped lead them to a 25-17 victory. The Salukis took an 11 point lead but ISU tried to chip away, cutting it down to four on a Swigart kill.
But SIU closed the set on a 6-2 run and finished off the set with back-to-back kills from Viggars.
ISU couldn't get balls to fall its way in set three as Southern posted a 25-17 win. Indiana State didn't get any closer than three in the set as it trailed 10-13 after a kill by Swigart.
A 5-2 run by the Salukis extended its lead to 19-12 as Indiana State just couldn't get anything going on either end. A Thomas kill made it 17-22, but SIU closed out the set with three straight points.
Set four went much of the same way for Indiana State despite posting a .300 hitting percentage as SIU claimed the four set victory, 25-19.
Kills by Willis and Nord erased much of the deficit as SIU called a timeout leading 15-12. SIU reached 20 first on a service error by Willis and back-to-back reception errors extended the Sycamores deficit back to five. MVC hitting percentage leader Taylor Pippen sealed the match victory for Southern.
Indiana State continues its travels as it heads to Evansville tomorrow in a 7 p.m. ET matchup.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Volleyball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
