CARBONDALE, Ill. – Indiana State volleyball earned their first Missouri Valley Conference series sweep of the season on Monday evening after defeating Southern Illinois in Carbondale.
 
After falling in set one, the Sycamores (6-7, 6-6 MVC) would claim three-straight sets for a 3-1 [18-25, 25-21, 25-12, 25-13] victory. With the loss, Southern Illinois falls to 2-12 (1-11 MVC) on the season.
 
Perhaps the most impressive stat, ISU dominated the service games by tallying 12 aces on the afternoon after ending with nine on Sunday. The 12 aces marked the first time since Sept. 8, 2018 against Saint Louis that ISU has tallied at least 10 in a match. Chloe Mason led the way with five aces of her own, tying the second-best outing by an athlete in the MVC this season.
 
In addition to five service aces, Mason earned her ninth double-double of the year with 21 assists and 10 digs. Senior Mary Hannah Lewis contributed 15 assists within the offense and also ended with two service aces.
 
As a team, Indiana State held a 47-43 advantage in kills, led by Madeline Williams with 12. Taylor Shelton, Kaitlyn Hamilton and Kylie Newby also helped with a balanced attack, ending at nine, eight and eight kills, respectively.
 
Defensively, four Trees tallied double-digit digs as a part of the team's 60 total digs. Melina Tedrow got down for the most, ending at 17, while Ashley Eck (13), Shelton (12) and Mason (10) also recorded at least 10.
 
At the net, ISU got up for more total blocks than SIU by a 7-5 margin. Newby had a strong match, recording a solo block to go along with four block assists while Hamilton added three block assists of her own.
 
The first set of the match was all Southern Illinois. With their offensive firing on all cylinders, SIU made it difficult on the Sycamore defense with 17 kills while hitting an impressive .577 for the frame.
 
Indiana State would respond, however, opening the second set on a 9-2 run which featured two important kills from Kylie Newby. The Salukis would manage to pull back to 14-12, but a decisive 10-2 run by the Blue & White helped the Trees even the match at one. An important piece to the set two success came from the ISU service game with the Sycamores tallying four aces to go along with their 13 kills.
 
Defense was the name of the game in the third frame for ISU, as the Sycamores held the Salukis to just five kills and a -.097 hitting percentage in the set. Conversely, the Trees began the set on a 9-3 run to set the tone and went on to end the frame on a 14-5 run, tallying three more aces en route to the 25-12 win.
 
The Sycamores saved their best for last, putting down 15 kills while hitting .324 in set four while once again making the SIU offense uncomfortable. The Salukis ended the frame with only eight kills on .000 hitting.
 
Sycamore volleyball returns home next Sunday and Monday (Mar. 14-15) for another Valley series with Drake. The matches will be streamed live on the Valley on ESPN.
 
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.