Volleyball team ends losing streak, will face S. Indiana on Wednesday |
Rick Crossin |
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Lady Cougars will try to avenge early-season loss at home against USI
The SIUE volleyball team ended one streak and started a new one this weekend on the road. The Lady Cougars headed into Friday's match against Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne riding a four-game losing streak. IUPU-Ft. Wayne came into the match heading in a different direction than SIUE, having won six matches in a row. Early in the match, it looked like that streak would end at six matches as the Lady Cougars won the first game 15-13. Unfortunately, the rest of the match would not favor SIUE. IUPU-Ft. Wayne stormed back, taking the next three games of the match by scores of 15-8, 15-10 and 15-9. In the match, Lindsay Rust and Andrea Voss were the only Lady Cougars to reach double digits in kills with 13 and 11 respectively. "We came intense in all four games against Fort Wayne, which is something that has kind of been up and down," head coach Joe Fisher said. IUPU-Ft. Wayne's Laura Douglas led the Ladydons with 20 kills on the evening. The loss was the fifth in a row for the Lady Cougars, dropping their season record to 7-12. "I told them after Friday's match that this is the way we were supposed to play," Fisher said. "We played well and lost to a better team." Fortunately, that streak would not last very long. On Saturday afternoon, SIUE took out two weeks worth of frustration on St. Joseph's College. The Lady Cougars jumped all over the Lady Pumas in the first game, winning 15-5. It was more of the same in game two as SIUE again won easily 15-8. Then St. Joseph's found life. The Lady Pumas came back to take the third game of the match and almost took the fourth game but fell 16-14. "We got some people, who normally don't get a lot of time, some time on the court and they played well," Fisher said. One of those players was Melissa Schaeffer, who had kills in the match. The win pushed SIUE's overall record to 8-12 and 4-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference heading into some important games this week, On Wednesday SIUE will try for a little bit of revenge against the University of Southern Indiana at home. The match will be the start of a six-game homestand for SIUE, which includes a match against Northern Kentucky University, the No.1 team in the conference. Wednesday's match will be an important one for the Lady Cougars, as Southern Indiana ranks first overall in the Green Division of the conference. SIUE is one of three teams that are at or near second place in the conference and a win against the No. 1 team could push the Lady Cougars over the top. "At this point of the season, every match is important," Fisher said. "We need to stay at one match at a time." In the match earlier this season, SIUE was dominated by the Lady Screaming Eagles, losing in three games 15-8, 15-7 and 15-13. Since that match, both teams have gone in opposite directions. After the Sept. 20 matchup, Southern Indiana has gone 6-1, while SIUE has gone 2-5. The match will be especially important for one Lady Cougar as well. SIUE outside hitter Stosha DeShasier transferred from Southern Indiana this year, and will have a few of her old friends on the other side of the net. "I hope that Stosha can relay some of that intensity and energy to her teammates," Fisher said.
SCORE BOARD SIUE Volleyball Leaders Through Oct. 9 Kills
Lindsay Rust 281 Shanan McLean 209 Kelly Schaill 138 Stosha DeShasier 134
Digs Lindsay Rust 295 Shanan McLean 221 Heather Vaughn 164 Kathy Dulle 130
Blocks (solo)
Andrea Voss 25 Kelly Schaill 14 Lindsay Rust 6 Stosha DeShasier 5 Jennifer Parks 5
Aces Meghan Daugherty 28 Lindsay Rust 25 Shanan McLean 25 Heather Vaughn 15 Becky Sharpe 13 | |