Oct. 24, 2009

RICHMOND, Ky. - Sydney Winslow recorded a season-high 21 kills Saturday in Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's four-set volleyball loss at Eastern Kentucky.

EKU defeated the Cougars 25-15, 25-27, 25-20, 25-21 as SIUE's record fell to 1-22. EKU improved to 5-16 overall.

SIUE Coach Todd Gober said it was the first time in a while that Winslow has been highly-involved in the offensive success. The Cougars finished with 59 kills overall and recorded a .219 hitting percentage, a figure well above the team's season average.

"Sydney had a big day today," said Gober of the junior right-side hitter.

Jessica Hemann also joined Winslow in double digits with 15 kills. That also was a season and career high for the sophomore middle hitter.

"Overall, I thought we did pretty well today," said Gober. "When I look at the stat sheet, I see a lot of positives." Both Winslow and Hemann hit better than .300 for the match.

SIUE and EKU split the first two sets. EKU took the final two sets behind 14 kills each from Lindsay Loescher and Hannah Groudle. Abby O'Connor sparked the defense with 29 digs.

"We switched defenses before the match and that may have contributed to a slow start," Gober said. The Cougars finished with 70 digs, including 16 kills Karie Downing, 15 from setter Jamie Mueller and 14 from Diane Schmidlin.

The Cougars now have a week before traveling to Missouri for a match on Oct. 31.

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