TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Southern Illinois evened the season series with Indiana State volleyball Friday night, rallying for a 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-19) win inside the ISU Arena.
Junior
Laura Gross paced Indiana State with a team-best 16 kills and 17 digs. Freshman
Nikkie White had her fifth double-figure kills match of the season with 14 kills and two blocks.
Damadj Johnson added nine kills and five blocks for the Trees.
The Sycamores (7-16, 5-6 MVC) jumped out to an early match lead after taking the first set 25-21. Freshman
Nikkie White dominated the first set, going for seven kill. The Columbus, Ohio product finished with 14 kills on the evening. It marked the second straight double-digit kills match for White.
ISU hit .438 in the opening frame while the Salukis hit .333. Gross added four kills in the frame while Johnson went for three.
The Salukis (5-17, 4-7 MVC) would bounce back in the second set, cranking up the defensive pressure and holding the Sycamores to a match low .130 attacking percent and blocking six shots en route to the 25-20 win to even the match.
SIU continued its offensive barrage in the third set with a .361 hitting percentage led by Andrea Estrada with five kills and Abby Barrow who had three kills on six attempts. The Sycamores were able to up their offensive output in the set, but a 5-2 run late in the set by the Salukis was too much to overcome.
Southern's defense was too much to deal with in the final set as SIU held ISU to just 11 kills on 41 attempts and a .049 attacking percentage as they cruised to a 25-19 win.
Inside the Box Score
- Southern Illinois outhit Indiana State .283 to .217 on the night with a match high .361 hitting percentage in the third set
- ISU was led by Gross with 16 kills, White had 14 and Johnson went for nine
- Johnson had five blocks to lead the Trees but SIU had 14 total blocks while ISU had nine
- The Sycamores had three players with double digit digs -- Stephanie Bindernagel (20), Gross (16), Rachel Griffin (10)
- Griffin assisted on 48 of the teams' 58 kills
Next Up
The Sycamores return to the court Saturday (Oct. 28) when they welcome Missouri State to the ISU Arena. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. ET.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Volleyball team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram.