Valparaiso fought back
from a two sets to none deficit Saturday evening against host Southern Illinois
in the championship match at the Saluki Invitational, but could not complete
the comeback, as Southern Illinois earned the 3-2 (25-9, 25-19, 18-25, 20-25,
15-8) victory. Amy Groesbeck (Wheaton, Ill./North) and Kim
Bukowski (Waukesha, Wis./West) represented the Crusaders on the
All-Tournament Team.
“You have to give Southern Illinois credit tonight,” said Crusader head
coach Carin Avery. “They came out fired up in front of their
home crowd in a great atmosphere.
They’re a good team and played well and that’s why they’re undefeated.”
The opening set was close
early on, as Katie Layman (LaPorte, Ind./New
Prairie), Angie Porché (Lynwood, Ill./Thornton
Fractional South) and Tara Diebler (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) each tallied early kills to go with a Haley Wise (Mishawaka,
Ind./Mishawaka)
service ace. But with the score tied at
5-5, the Salukis rolled off 19 of the next 21 points to take control of the
opener.
Southern
Illinois looked like it
had control of the second set as well, taking a 13-7 advantage midway through
the set. But a Saluki service error sent
Diebler back to the service line, and she would stay there for the next six
points, recording a pair of service aces along the way. Layman and Jenny Pokorny (Geneva, Ill./Geneva)
each registered kills during the 7-0 run as well, and Diebler’s second ace gave
Valpo its first lead in the first two sets.
After the teams traded sideouts, however, SIU proceeded to score the
next six points in a row to take control and go into the in-game break up two
sets.
The Crusaders took
advantage of a multitude of Southern Illinois errors to keep even in the early
stages of the third and then busted out the offense during a 7-1 run, getting
two kills from Britton along with terminations from Bukowski and Groesbeck
along the way, as well as a service ace from Bukowski to cap the run and make
it 16-12 Valpo. A pair of Crusader
errors cut their lead to two, but SIU handed the points right back with two
errors of their own. Porché then
registered back-to-back kills to push the lead back to six points, a lead which
Valpo would not let get under four points the rest of the way as they moved the
match to a fourth set.
Valpo rode the momentum
from the third set win right into the fourth set, starting the frame on a 10-3
run, including a pair of service aces from Andrea
Balsis (Benton Harbor, Mich./Coloma) and two kills by Layman. SIU fought back, however, taking six of the
next eight points and forcing a Crusader timeout with the lead cut to 12-9.
The Crusaders and Salukis
traded sideouts for the next seven points before a Groesbeck kill broke the
string and pushed the Valpo advantage to five points at 17-12. Following an error, Porché and Layman each
tallied kills to make it 19-13, and while SIU would score the next three
points, Groesbeck picked up a pair of terminations along with one from Britton
to keep the Salukis at bay and send the match to a decisive fifth frame.
But the Crusaders were
unable to stop a Southern Illinois run to open
the final set. The Salukis sided out on
the first point of the frame and Rachael Brown stepped back to the service line
to serve seven straight points, including a trio of aces. By the time Valpo could hit the board, SIU
held an 8-1 lead, and while a 3-0 spurt later in the set on two kills by
Groesbeck and one by Porché brought the Crusaders to within 11-6, they could
get no closer the rest of the way.
Groesbeck paced the
Crusader offense against the Salukis with 13 kills on a stellar .423 hitting
percentage. Porché was the only other
Crusader to reach double figures, posting ten terminations. Bukowski handed out 18 assists, while Pokorny
dished out 16 helpers. Taylor Root (Jenison,
Mich./Jenison)
led the defensive effort with 11 digs along with ten from Balsis.
“On our side, we just
really didn’t have a good match all-around,” said Avery. “There really wasn’t one part of our game
that was on, and when you’re outplayed in every part of the game, it’s tough to
win matches. That doesn’t take away from
the fact we did some good things this weekend, and I am proud of the fact we
fought back from two sets down to force a fifth set.”
Valparaiso (5-4) opens Horizon League play this coming
Friday as they make their longest trip of the league season, traveling to Youngstown State for a 6 p.m. CDT match. Every point can be heard live on WVUR, 95.1
FM, Valparaiso
and online at www.valpoathletics.com,
which will also have links for live stats and video.