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Locke expects fiery Saluki effort tonight

Saturday marked the SIU volleyball team's fifth straight loss in its match against Creighton, its longest losing streak in three years.

SIU's season thus far has been more like a rollercoaster ride at Six Flags than a quest for a spot in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament -the only consistency has been in the Salukis' inconsistency.

SIU (4-11, 2-3) managed to win more games against MVC co-favorite Wichita State than Southeast Missouri State, a team that had lost 24 straight games before sweeping the Salukis last month.

"If I could give a piece of myself to each of my players, we would have more than four wins at this point," Locke said.

But if the Salukis show half of the enthusiasm tonight against Tennessee-Martin that head coach Sonya Locke exhibited after practice Monday, they will make quick work of the Skyhawks.

"If I were on the team, Tennessee-Martin would not want to play against me," said the unusually candid Locke. "Tennessee-Martin should not want to play SIU right now."

Tennessee-Martin (3-9, 1-3) snapped an eight-match losing streak Saturday with a 3-1 win against Samford. The Skyhawks, two years removed from back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships, are tied for sixth-place in the OVC.

On paper the Skyhawks seem to be stronger on the defensive side of the net, averaging the second-most blocks per game in the OVC and 15.4 digs a game.

"Our goal is to not give them an opportunity to dig a ball," Locke said. "That's how strong we are perpetuating our offense to be. They're going to have to match our offensive aggressiveness if they're going to average 15 digs a game against us."

The burden of hauling in Saluki kills will fall squarely on the shoulders of senior Leigh Reiniche and sophomore Kim Tipton. Reiniche leads the team in digs (3.22) and kills per game (3.35), and Lipton corrals 3.13 digs a game.

The Skyhawks' leading hitter is freshman Kathryn Sprague, who has a .324 attack percentage. Reiniche leads the team in kills with 134, followed by freshman Jaime Hollins with 101.

SIU defeated the Skyhawks 3-1 at home last season and leads the all-time series 7-1.

Tonight's match is the last of the Salukis' seven-match road trip, in which they have managed just a single victory thus far.

"We definitely need to get back on the winning track," said sophomore Haley Hann. "We still have time, but we need to do it now."