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Make or break weekend for SIU

It's a weekend that could cause the Salukis to miss the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, or one they will overcome.

Going into Oct. 1 with a 2-1 conference record, SIU had an opportunity to propel itself to the heights of the Valley with wins against Drake and Creighton.

Finish the weekend with two victories, and the Salukis are tied for third place. Pull out one win and, at worst, SIU is tied for fifth.

But SIU did neither.

The Salukis (5-13, 3-4) now sit in sixth place, the last seed to qualify for the conference tournament, and enter this weekend with possibly the two biggest matches of the season against Illinois State and Indiana State.

"We cannot afford to have anymore weekends where we don't split," said SIU head coach Sonya Locke.

Illinois State (12-5, 5-2) will be looking to notch its first victory in four matches tonight against SIU after losing its third straight match Tuesday at Notre Dame.

The Redbirds lead the all-time series with SIU 50-5-1. The Salukis have defeated Illinois State just once in 27 meetings under Locke - a first round victory in the 2002 MVC Tournament.

Illinois State has a four-pronged attack with Kari Staehin, Savannah Knowles, Emily Kabbes and Laura Doornbos. Staehlin, Knowles and Doornbos are averaging between 3.02 kills a game and 3.61 kills a game.

Kabbes, a 2004 preseason all-MVC selection, is averaging 2.77 kills a game and hitting .277. Staehlin is hitting at a .358 clip, good enough for fourth in the MVC.

SIU had trouble containing Bradley's Lindsay Stalzer Saturday, as the 6-foot-1 junior dropped a career-high 30 kills on the Salukis.

"Our defense needs to step up, and our ball control this weekend really has to be on point so we can run our offense," said junior Marissa Washington, who is eighth in the conference with a .316 attack percentage.

Equally important to an SIU victory Friday is the match occurring at exactly the same time between two seventh-place teams in Terre Haute, Ind.

Indiana State (6-9, 2-5) and Evansville (9-10, 2-5) are both one-match behind SIU. The Sycamores have lost four straight matches. The Purple Aces won their last match, a 3-2 victory against Eastern Illinois. The Sycamores took both matches from Evansville last season and are 31-13 all-time versus the Purple Aces.

If history runs its course Friday, SIU will lose to Illinois State, and Evansville will defeat Indiana State. The Salukis and Evansville would then be in a deadlock for sixth-place.

Evansville plays Illinois State Saturday, a team it has never beaten, and SIU faces Indiana State. The Salukis' lone road victory last season was at the ISU Arena, where the Sycamores are 1-2 this season. Indiana State was also the only team to be swept by SIU last season.

"We let those two at Drake and Creighton slip by us, so we really need to make up for it this weekend," junior Marissa Washington said.

If history repeats itself, by the time the weekend is over, SIU will have exactly the same lead over Indiana State and Evansville as it did when the weekend started - one match. "I think that if we're going to make head way, now is the time," Locke said.