MATCH STATS
- Missouri State def. Southern Illinois, 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-22)
- Missouri State improves to 14-5, 6-0; Southern Illinois falls to 4-13, 3-3
- Carbondale, Illinois
- Attendance: 505
- Box score
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Missouri State remained perfect in the Missouri Valley Conference with a sweep of Southern Illinois Saturday night (25-17, 25-21, 25-22). This was their 16th-straight road victory, which is currently the longest road win streak in the country. Win the win, the Bears also tied a school record for most consecutive MVC victories with 22.
Leading the way for Missouri State was Lily Johnson‘s double-double. She had match-highs of 14 kills and 15 digs, hitting .293 and adding 2 aces, 2 assists and a block. Lynsey Wright also finished in double digit kills with 12 while hitting .429 with 3 blocks. Setter Daniele Messa directed the .306-hitting offense with 32 digs and completed the double-double with 11 digs. Libero Emily Butters finished with 13 digs.
The Salukis were led with their own double-double maching, Andrea Estrada, with 10 kills and 13 digs. It was her seventh-straight double-double this season.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Missouri State Athletics
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Missouri State remained perfect in Missouri Valley Conference volleyball play Saturday evening with a 25-17, 25-21, 25-22 victory at Southern Illinois, improving to 6-0 in conference matches for the first time since 2009 and extending its overall league winning streak to 22 consecutive regular-season matches, tying the Missouri State baseball team’s stretch of 22 straight MVC wins from 2016-17 for the longest Valley streak by any MSU program in school history.
The Bears (14-5, 6-0 MVC) also extended their overall winning streak to seven matches and their NCAA-leading road streak to 16 in a row behind a double-double of 14 kills and 15 digs by Lily Johnson and 12 kills on .429 hitting from Lynsey Wright, who passed Olivia Brand for the 13th spot on MSU’s career kills list during the match.
Missouri took the lead for good in the first set with a 6-0 run, and hit .361 to keep the margin at three points or more after taking the early 8-3 advantage. Five players had multiple kills for MSU, led by Wright with four winners and three blocks, as the Bears held their opponent below 20 points for the 10th consecutive set, MSU’s longest streak since the 25-point scoring format began in 2008.
MSU jumped ahead 7-3 in the second period but were met with plenty of resistance from the Salukis (4-13, 3-3). SIU used a 6-1 run to lead 17-15, and maintained that advantage to 21-19 before the Bears closed on a 6-0 run for the win. Wright’s kill began the closing charge, Southern Illinois committed three errors, and Johnson scored kills for points 23 and 25.
The Bears earned another 7-3 lead in the period and led 15-9 after a Daniele Messa ace. The Salukis closed to 20-18 when Johnson responded with consecutive kills for a 22-18 advantage, and SIU cut the gap to two points twice more with each being met by a Missouri State kill.
Messa finished with 32 assists and 11 digs, and the Bears hit .306 compared to .219 for SIU and held leads of 49-39 in kills, 5-0 in aces and 5-4 in blocks. Each team had 55 digs.
Courtesy of Southern Illinois Athletics
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern illinois volleyball team fell to Missouri State 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-22) Saturday night at Davies Gym. The loss dropped SIU to 4-13 on the season and 3-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play. Missouri State improves to 14-5 on the season and have now won 22-straight Valley matches dating back to last season.
The Salukis were led by 10 kills and 13 digs from Andrea Estrada. It marked the seventh-straight double-double for the two-time All-MVC selection in eight career matches against the Lady Bears. She also hit .269 Saturday and dished out a pair of assists.
“I thought (Estrada) played great,” first-year head coach Kari Thompson said. “The thing I really liked about her tonight is she stuck to the gameplan. She has the tendency to sometimes just get the ball off and do whatever she can, but I think she found, that if she sticks the gameplan, how successful she can be playing that way, and that others can be successful around her.”
On the other side of the net, three-time All-American Lily Johnson finished with match-highs in kills (14) and digs (15). The reigning MVC Player of the Year got off to an unassuming start, as she had just one kill on nine swings in the opening set. However, she had seven kills in set two and followed with six in the third frame to pace the Lady Bears attack.
“In the first set, we held (Johnson) to one kill and I was excited about that,” Thompson said. “But then by the end of the second she had eight. She’s just one of those players that, from set to set, you’ve got to be able to defend her the whole time.”
The Lady Bears ripped off a 6-0 run to build a five-point advantage (8-3) early in set one, but a kill by Estrada got SIU to within three, 14-11. That was as close as Southern could get in the frame, as Missouri State grew its lead to five with back-to-back points and never looked back. SIU hit just .128 in the set compared to Missouri State’s .361 hitting percentage.
The second set was a see-saw battle that featured seven ties and four lead changes. An illegal rotation call against Missouri State tied the score 11-11, and back-to-back blocks by Kolby Meeks and Maggie Nedoma again tied the score at 14-14. Southern took their second lead of the set on a 3-0 spurt highlighted by two of Estrada’s ten kills that gave SIU a 17-15 advantage. The Salukis lead remained two after a kill by Abby Barrow that gave the home team a 21-19 lead. The Lady Bears, however, closed the set on a 6-0 run to take the frame, 25-21.
“We were doing some really good things in the second set,” Thompson said. “We made a couple of adjustments going into the third that I thought would help us and we had opportunities. They’re a great team. We have to make plays.”
The Salukis outhit the Lady Bears, .342-to-.295 in the third stanza, but an early run by Missouri State forced Southern to play catch up for the entirety of the set. SIU cut a six-point lead down to two, 20-18 on one of Hannah Becker‘s two kills, but back-to-back kills by Johnson stymied any chance of a Saluki comeback.
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