Oct. 31, 2009

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Despite a match-leading 13 kills from Sydney Winslow, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville dropped a three-set decision at Missouri 25-16, 25-21, 25-21.

SIUE Coach Todd Gober said that even though the Cougars came up short against the Tigers, it was good to see the team competing on a solid level with the 15-9 Tigers. Gober said the Cougars were aggressive in the transition game and made some good, scrappy digs among its 43 digs.

"That's what I was most happy with tonight," said Gober.

Next up for SIUE is Senior Night. The Cougars entertain Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the SIUE Student Fitness Center.

The Tigers held the edge in serving and blocking. Missouri garnered six service aces and eight total blocks while the Cougars went without a service ace and managed three blocks against the 15-9 Tigers.

"They knocked us out of our serve receive a couple of times," admitted Gober.

Julianna Klein and Paola Ampudia led Missouri with nine kills each.

The Cougars held their ground in all three sets. In set two, SIUE was down 8-2 but rallied back to tie the score 14-14 on one of Winslow's kills. The Cougars would stay as close as 21-20 before the Tigers picked up a pair of kills down the stretch from Brittany Brimmage to finish off the set.

SIUE and Missouri finished with nearly identical hitting percentage. SIUE completed the match with a .207 hitting percentage while the Tigers ended up with a .212 hitting percentage. It was the third time in the last four matches that the 1-22 Cougars have hit better than .200 for a match.

Gober said he moved Sammi Minton into the libero position for Saturday's match. Minton has played much of the season as a setter but had been sidelined for a handful of matches because of an injury. Her return resulted in a team-leading 15 digs. Gober said Jamie Mueller also has continued to improve as the starting setter.

"Jamie has really settled into the offense," said Gober. Mueller finished with 32 assists and four kills.

-siue cougars-