Team faces two conference foes this weekend

The SIU volleyball team looks to make a jump in the Missouri Valley Conference standings this weekend.

The Salukis will host Indiana State tonight and Illinois State on Saturday. The two teams are at the bottom of the MVC standings.

"We were talking about making a move in the conference this weekend," said head coach Brenda Winkeler. "We are at home this weekend, so it is a chance for us to sweep both teams if we play as well as I think we can."

Combined, Indiana State and Illinois State are 7-17 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

Both teams lost each of their conference matches against Missouri State and Wichita State, two teams atop conference standings.

If history means anything to the Salukis, the team could be in for a tough match against Illinois State (3-10, 0-2).

In SIU's 60 all-time matches against the Redbirds, the Salukis have come away with a victory only five times. The teams have tied once, and SIU hasn't won against the Redbirds since 1990.

The Salukis are aware of their record against the Redbirds, but Winkeler said they must concentrate more on the game plan than the record.

Illinois State's offensive attack is based around three capable scorers: Kari Staehlin, M.C. Richmond and Lindley McDavid.

All three have recorded triple-digit kills on the season and have scored over half of Illinois State's total points through 11 matches.

It will be up to the Salukis' defense and 27th ranked blocking in the nation to stop Redbird threats.

"Hopefully our blocking can produce to stop their attack," Winkeler said. "We are bringing a better blocking game to the plate than in years past, so that will help us to defend some of their attackers."

Staehlin, a middle blocker, leads the team in kills (163), blocks (43) and points per game (196) and is comparable to Saluki middle blocker and main offensive threat, Johannah Yutzy.

Richmond, a sophomore middle blocker, and McDavid, a senior outside hitter, serve as the second and third place hitters on the team and all have solid numbers this season.

Sophomore setter Lindsey Erin, the 2005 MVC Freshman of the Year, should also be a key component to the Redbirds' attack.

Erin's 530 set assists and 11.52 assists per game are both team leaders. Her assist-per-game average is more than 10 times as many as her next teammate who has a half assist per game.

Indiana State (3-10, 0-2), meanwhile, comes into tonight's game after losing six of its last eight matches.

The Sycamores are two-fold in their offensive attack.

Freshman right side hitter Kelli Whitaker and senior middle hitter Stephanie Roof have combined to record 228 of the Sycamores' 579 kills.

Whitaker leads the team in kills with 117 and kills per game with 3.00.

Roof, meanwhile, is more versatile. She has 111 kills, second only to Whitaker, and leads the team in blocking. Roof has 40 total blocks, with 14 of them solo-blocks, ranking near the top of conference leaders.

Winkeler said the Sycamores can be very scrappy on defense and the Salukis will need to counter-attack the entire game.

"We need to have some ball control and use our middle as much as we can to eliminate our unforced errors," Winkeler said. "That will make us successful against Indiana State."

The Salukis opened up their conference play last weekend with a win against Drake (32-30, 30-22, 30-24) and a loss against Creighton (30-24, 30-22, 26-30, 30-18).

Winkeler said she was pleased with the team's play to this point, and the loss to Creighton was to a team she thinks will contend for the title.