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 host depleted Murray State tonight

It's a winning recipe.

Take two Ohio Valley Conference all-conference tournament players, add an All-American and mix with a team that ranked in the top 10 in three categories in the NCAA.

Stir, and you have last season's OVC Tournament champion, Murray State.

Murray State breezed through the 2003 conference tournament, sweeping Southeast Missouri State, Jacksonville State and Morehead State en route to its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

The Racers were swept by Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. But, with the entire team returning this season and being favored to repeat as OVC champs, expectations were even loftier.

"Everything looked really, really good," said Murray State head coach David Schwepker.

But it all fell down with one swift ruling from OVC commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher.

Following Murray State's opening weekend at the Indiana Invitational, Steinbrecher ruled that the Racers' top three players - Paige Sun, Nikki Wong and Lilli Zhan, all from China - were ineligible for the rest of the season.

Sun became Murray State's first-ever All-American after leading the OVC with 4.67 kills a game, while hitting. 300.

Wong ranked 31st in the nation with 12.68 assists per game, and was also sixth in the OVC with a .293 attack percentage.

Zhan ranked 40th in the nation with a .362 attack percentage.

"Our conference has problems with some of our Chinese girls, and they don't want them to play and our president said they can't play," Steinbrecher said.

The trio's absence has resulted in just four Murray State wins, a quest to break away from Tennessee State as the worst team in the conference, and the worst season Schwepker has ever experienced.

"I think everybody has to learn a lot from this season," Schwepker. "It's a humbling experience for everybody."

Murray State is tied with Tennessee State with the worst records in the OVC, and although the Racers are still in the race for a conference tournament berth mathematically, Schwepker realizes it would take a miracle to make a return trip to the NCAA tournament. "They'd have to make a movie about our team if that happened," Schwepker said.

To make matters worse, two of the Racers' nine remaining players - Ashley Meagher and Julie Lashley - have been sidelined with injuries. Lashley played last weekend and is probable for tonight's match.

Murray State (4-12, 1-9) limps into Carbondale having lost its last five matches, and has not won a game in four matches.

SIU (4-6, 6-15) won its last match, a 3-2 win against Evansville, and leads the all-time season series 9-2, but Murray State swept SIU last season on the strength of Sun, Wong and Zhan.

Wong and Paige posted double-doubles. Wong had 44 assists and 10 digs, and Paige recorded 12 kills and 15 digs. Zhan chipped in with 14 kills and hit .609.

The Salukis used the six days they had between the Evansville victory and tonight's match to sharpen their defensive, specifically their blocking, schemes.

"When we're in drills, we do it well. The true test is tomorrow in the match."

Although Murray State is a non-conference opponent, SIU head coach Sonya Locke is not overlooking the Racers and views every match as a step toward the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

"We're not using this match as an experiment at all," Locke said. "If we're going to accomplish any of the rest of the goals we've set, we have to play better volleyball than we have in the past."