CARBONDALE, Ill. – Indiana State volleyball dropped its third-straight match Friday night, falling to Southern Illinois in straight sets, 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-22), at Davies Gym.

Indiana State senior Kynedi Nalls led the Sycamores with 11 kills followed closely by Damadj Johnson who finishedwith eight. Rachel Griffin assisted on 20 of the Sycamores' 36 kills on the night.

Senior Bree Spangler tallied 10 digs in the match, needing just 22 more to become the fourth player in program history to record 1000 digs and 1000 kills. 

The Sycamores (7-10, 1-4 MVC) battled in a back-and-forth opening set as both teams traded points before the Salukis tallied a pair of kills  to push their lead to 12-10. SIU's Andrea Estrada and Meg Viggers would close out the set with five kills to put the Salukis on top, 1-0.

Both teams turned up the offense in the second set as the Salukis (14-6, 5-1 MVC)​ hit .395 and Indiana State improved on their opening set attacking percent by a large margin, hitting .235, but the SIU duo of Viggars and Estrada was too much to overcome as the Salukis pulled away late, 25-19, to take a two set to none lead into the break. 

The third set proved to be the most competitive set of the night for the Sycamores as the teams' battled for nearly the entire match. Nalls pulled INS even with Southern at 20 apiece with her eighth hill, but that was as close as Indiana State would get as SIU closed out the set to secure their fifth Missouri Valley win of the year. 

Both team tallied a four blocks each, while Southern held a 5-2 advantage in service aces. Griffin recorded both aces for the Sycamores. 

Indiana State will return to action Saturday as they travel to Evansville to take on the Purple Aces at the Carson Center. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m. (ET).