EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (8-16, OVC 3-9) dropped the series against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (10-13, OVC 5-7) in five sets on Saturday afternoon nearly completing the reverse sweep (17-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 11-15).
USI falls back into a three-way tie for the final spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with Eastern Illinois University and University of Tennessee at Martin. Junior
Keira Moore (31) and senior
Abby Weber (17) totaled season bests in digs.
Set 1: USI 17, SIUE 25
Five different Eagles were involved in kills to start the match in a 5-5 start. USI fell behind 12-17, but seniors
Paris Downing and
Jasmine Green helped the Eagles pull within four. The Eagles struggled to avoid blocks as the Cougars tallied five, snatching set one. USI attackers also failed to avoid errors committing eight attacking errors, losing their 19
th first set of the season.
Set 2: USI 22, SIUE 25
Both teams traded points, but the Cougars stayed close with four Eagles attacking errors tying the set at nine. Weber gave the Eagles a spark from the serve line with a four-point run. Junior
Bianca Anderson showed incredible touch with a finesse kill to extend USI's lead to 15-12. SIUE came out of the media timeout on fire with a four-point run to force USI to call a timeout with four kills and a block. Sophomore
Ellie Marbet smoked a kill cross court bringing the Eagles within one, 20-21. USI faltered down the stretch once again as the Cougars snatched set two with four of the last five points. The Cougars out blocked the Eagles 12-3 after two frames. Redshirt Freshman
Jillian Moonan recorded her first stats as an Eagle with three digs.
Set 3: USI 25, SIUE 22
Freshman
Kerigan Fehr helped the Eagles gain an early 4-3 lead with an ace. Sophomore
Ashby Willis and Downing combined for a big block extending the lead to three. USI's team leader vocally, senior Green slammed a kill and block on back-to-back possessions firing up the Eagles with a 15-11 lead. The Cougars made a four-point run before Anderson stopped the bleeding with three massive kills. SIUE mounted another four-point run before Green and Willis finished the set with two kills. Senior
Carly Sobieralski racked up 28 assists through three sets moving into fifth all-time in assists with 2,671.
Set 4: USI 25, SIUE 23
USI's pivotal three-point swing helped gain a 9-8 lead. SIUE swatted their 19
th block of the match before the Eagles made a four-point run leading 15-12 on back-to-back kills from Green. Sophomore
Leah Coleman joined the fun with her fifth kill making it 17-13, while Moore continued to deny Cougar kills with 24 digs. Green made a highlight reel diving save into to the scorer's table, followed by a Sobieralski dump kill giving the Eagles the 19-16 lead. The Cougars made another late run, but USI showed immense grit finishing set four with a Downing kill.
Set 5: USI 11, SIUE 15
The riveting match continued as Anderson smashed her 16
th kill tying the set at five. SIUE capitalized on three Eagle attacking errors mounting an 8-2 run. Willis committed a service error to conclude the match as USI came up four points short of the reverse sweep. USI were out blocked 24-9 making a monumental difference in the match. Despite the loss, USI started to look more like the team who started conference season winning three of their first five.
Anderson led the Eagles 17 kills, one short of tying her season high. Sobieralski racked up 47 assists jumping into fifth all-time, while Moore turned a season high 31 digs. Moore finished the match only one dig away from tying her career high. Downing tied her season high of seven blocks with 14 on the weekend at the net.
As a team, USI finished with 58 kills, 52 assists, 97 digs, six aces, nine blocks, and a .107 attacking percentage. The Cougars earned 57 kills, 53 assists, 84 digs, five aces, 24 blocks, and a .160 hitting percentage.
Next up for the Eagles
USI hosts Tennessee State University next Friday at 6 p.m. for another huge Ohio Valley Conference weekend. USI celebrates senior day on Saturday at 2 p.m.
