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Salukis try to keep course in Valley action this weekend

SIU would make its fifth Missouri Valley Conference Tournament appearance if the season ended today.

But with eight conference matches remaining, whether the Salukis' ticket to the tourney is punched or discarded could be decided this weekend.

SIU took sole possession of sixth place after an Oct. 19 win against Evansville, but has very little breathing room with the Purple Aces and Indiana State just a match back.

SIU (7-15, 4-6) hosts Creighton and Drake this weekend in the final two matches of its four-match homestand, in which the Salukis are 2-0. SIU lost at Drake 3-2 Oct. 1 and was swept at Creighton Oct. 2.

"I think that what we want to do is play better volleyball," said SIU head coach Sonya Locke. "They're a better team right now, and we're a better team right now.

"Who comes out on top is really up to the team that decides to control the major factors."

Creighton (14-7, 6-5) comes into Davies Gymnasium fresh off a 3-2 upset of conference leader Wichita State Oct. 23. The Bluejay win snapped the Shockers' school record 13-match win streak.

"I felt all season any team could be vulnerable to anyone in the conference," Locke said. "We won a big one in the first weekend against Southwest Missouri, and Creighton won a big one against Wichita."

Bluejay junior Leah Ratzlaff became just the fourth player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills in an Oct. 22 loss to Southwest Missouri State. Ratzlaff is averaging 4.26 kills a game, second best in the conference.

Junior middle blocker Marissa Washington said Creighton's middle players hit a lot of slides, a scheme where a player comes from behind a setter for a kill.

"It's kind of hard to defend because they're going off of one foot, so it's kind of hard to see what angle they're going to hit," Washington said.

Drake (3-17, 1-10) travels to Carbondale desperately seeking a victory. The Bulldogs are stranded at the bottom of the Valley with Bradley, but have won their last three meetings with SIU. But Drake's Oct. 1 victory against SIU has been the highlight of its season as the Bulldogs have dropped seven straight matches since.

With five of its remaining eight matches being against teams in the upper echelon of the Valley, this could be the Salukis' best chance to gain ground on Creighton and separate themselves from Evansville and Indiana State.

"That's wishful thinking on our part," Locke said. "Of course, we want to go in any weekend hoping we can sweep, but we're just concentrating on one step at a time."

The Sycamores (8-11, 4-7) play just once this weekend, a home match against Illinois State Friday. Indiana State has won two of its last three matches, but was swept by the Redbirds Oct.1.

Evansville (10-13, 3-7) comes into its home weekend with Drake and Creighton having lost its last three matches. Evansville was defeated 3-1 by the Bluejays Oct. 1, but swept Drake a day later.

Since the expansion of the MVC Tournament field from four to six teams in 1995, a losing record has been good enough to get a team into the tourney on six occasions - and each occasion concluded with a first round exit.

In 1996, Bradley yielded a 5-13 conference record but still advanced to the MVC Tournament. The last team to make the tourney with a losing record was Indiana State, which went 8-10 in 2001.

"We just want to make sure we stay in sixth place and don't drop any at all," Washington said.

SIU faces Creighton at 7 p.m. Friday and Drake at 3 p.m. Saturday