The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Salukis fall to SMS, WSU in weekend home stand

Freshman Jene' Pulliam sat out weekend with ankle injury

Stephanie Mosir ~ Daily Egyptian Marissa Washington (left) and Kelly Harman prepare to block a spike from Wichita State player Sara Younes Friday night. Both Washington and Harman led the Salukis with six kills each as they fell to Wichita State 3-0.

What was complete silence in Bowling Green, Ky., was just short of chaos in Davies Gymnasium Saturday night.

When word spread of the SIU football team's game-winning touchdown versus Western Kentucky just before the start of the Salukis' volleyball match with Southwest Missouri State, the Davies Crazies did just that - went crazy.

But that would be one of the few things worth cheering for in a tough weekend for the Dawgs as they fell 30-26, 30-20, 30-19 to the first-place Bears Saturday and 30-17, 30-23, 30-23 Friday to Wichita State.

The Salukis (6-19, 1-11 Missouri Valley Conference) hit just .138 on Saturday while SMS (21-3, 13-0) owned a large edge in kills (55-34) and attempts (133-116) that would be the difference.

Time and again the Salukis followed a great dig with a relatively simple over, allowing the SMS attack to fire away at the SIU defense.

But it wasn't all negatives for the Dawgs.

Through the first two games SIU held the Bears to a .202 hitting percentage, well below their .260 average for the season, and had the advantage in digs 35-27.

But Linette White would go off for six kills on seven attempts in the decisive game three in which SIU fell behind 17-12 and never could catch up.

"Their offense was a little bit better, but we had them on defense," said freshman Ashley Saverine, who led the Salukis with 10 kills and 15 digs. "We just couldn't get kills."

For the match the Salukis managed to out-block the Bears 8-6, but the duo of White (16 kills, .458 hitting percentage) and Sarah Lansing (10 kills, .412) was too much for SIU to handle - that along with an ineffective offense.

"A few less unforced errors and just a little more positive offense and maybe things could have been a little bit different tonight," SIU head coach Sonya Locke said.

The Salukis had their chances to overtake the Bears, who are riding a 14-match winning streak, but hurt themselves each time.

SIU fought back from a 19-11 game one deficit to bring the score to 20-16, but two service errors and a net violation by the Salukis all but ended their hopes of victory.

With the score at 26-20, a questionable call by the line judge that went the Bears' way put the Dawgs away for good in game one.

"We're still making improvements and we have a long way to go still," Saverine said. "But the future will bring bright things."

Against Wichita State (16-7, 9-3), the Salukis fell victim to 17 service aces, five of which came from the stellar jump serve of junior Sara Younes. Jackie Brown chipped in with four aces, and Cori Meyer added three for the Shockers.

WSU hit .311 for the match and was led by Jen Ray, who decimated the SIU defense with 14 kills and a .667 hitting percentage, while the Dawgs hit just .138 as a team.

"Our [.138] hitting percentage isn't going to get us wins," Locke said. "We have to be better than that."

The Salukis fell behind 11-2 in game three and never could recover, but game one was a different story.

The Dawgs played even with the Shockers with 12 ties and four lead changes in the opening stages of game one, but with the score tied at 12-12, the Shockers outscored SIU 18-5 from that point on to take the game.

Game two started much the same way with the score tied at 11-11 until Younes went crazy with four consecutive points off serves to put the Shockers up for good.

Marissa Washington led the Dawgs with six kills and a .308 hitting percentage, and Kelly Harman chipped in with six kills for the match.

Freshman outside hitter Jene' Pulliam sat out the weekend after suffering an ankle injury at practice Wednesday. "I'm not sure where she is right now," Locke said. "They've got her doing her exercises, and she seems to be able to move around, but I think jumping is the issue right now."

Her status is unknown for next weekend's crucial matches at Illinois State and Indiana State, two teams the Dawgs are chasing for the sixth and final spot in the MVC tournament.