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."

SIU travels to unlucky sites

Halloween may have come and gone, but the SIU volleyball team will make its way to two haunted houses this weekend.

SIU (8-16, 5-7) travels to Bradley's Robertson Field House and Northern Iowa's West Gym, two sites that have been historical houses of horror for the Salukis.

SIU has lost seven of 12 matches at Bradley, including four of the last five at Robertson Field House.

Calendar dates at the West Gym have spelled an even greater disaster for SIU, as the Salukis have yet to leave Cedar Falls, Iowa, with a victory under head coach Sonya Locke.

"We are on a mission, and there's nothing we can do about having to play at Bradley and having to play at Northern Iowa," Locke said.

Defeating Northern Iowa at West Gym has been a historically daunting task for most Panther opponents.

Northern Iowa had won 74 consecutive matches before Oct. 1, when Wichita State snapped what was the longest active streak in Division I history. Before the Shockers' victory, the Panthers hadn't suffered a home loss since Halloween, 1997.

But SIU is coming to town at perhaps the most opportune time, as Bradley and Northern Iowa have both slipped into losing skids.

Northern Iowa (16-8, 9-4) was swept on back-to-back nights by Southwest Missouri State and Wichita State last weekend. The Panthers went all of last season without being swept by any of its Missouri Valley Conference foes.

Bradley (7-17, 1-12) has lost its last four matches, and the Redbirds' season has developed into a battle with Drake to avoid finishing as the worst team in the Valley.

SIU, which has won three of its last four matches, was swept by Northern Iowa Oct. 8 but defeated Bradley 3-1 a day later.

The Salukis may have walked out of Davies Gymnasium with that win against Bradley, but they were not as dominant as the score indicates, mainly due to Lindsay Stalzer.

The 6-foot-1 preseason all-conference middle blocker gave the Salukis a headache with a career-high 30 kills, on a ridiculous 62 attempts.

But Stalzer's performances haven't translated into wins because her teammates haven't provided much assistance.

In an effort to curb this trend, head coach Scott Luster moved Stalzer from middle blocker to outside hitter last weekend. Unfortunately, the Redbirds were playing the best teams the Valley had to offer in Wichita State and SMS, and suffered two additional losses.

"The problem with having a middle blocker as good as she is, is that if you're team isn't passing well, if you're not digging in system, it's hard to get her the ball," Locke said.

The Salukis are in a sixth-place tie with Indiana State, with Evansville tight on their heels at a match back.

Indiana State (9-11, 5-7) won its third match in four tries Oct. 29, a win against fourth-place Illinois State. But with SMS and Wichita State - which swept Indiana State four weeks ago - coming to town, the Sycamores could go winless this weekend.

Evansville (11-14, 4-8) will face the same opponents as SIU, just on different days. The Purple Aces will get Northern Iowa Friday, and Bradley Saturday.

Evansville was shut out by the Panthers Oct. 9, a day after they swept Bradley. Evansville has never beaten Northern Iowa, and trails its all-time series with Bradley 6-20.

"Going into this weekend, we need to at least beat Bradley," said Marissa Washington. "And when we play Northern Iowa, we just need to make sure we come to play.

"They're beatable at any time."

SIU plays Bradley tonight at 7 p.m., and Northern Iowa Saturday at 7 p.m.