NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Senior Sydney Winslow posted 16 kills in the season finale as Southern Illinois University Edwardsville volleyball collected a four-set victory at Tennessee State.

The Cougars, which finished the season with a 14-15 record, won the match 25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 25-22.

"It was tremendous today. Everybody stepped up today," said SIUE Head Coach Todd Gober.

The Cougars recorded a season-high 12 blocks against the Tigers. Middle hitter Jessica Hemann led the Cougars with seven blocks. Julia Whitfield added six.

"It was one of our best blocking matches of the season," said Gober.

Whitfield got off to a slow start in the match. She didn't record a kill until the middle of the second set and would end up with 12 kills.

Gober said he made some defensive changes by having Winslow play in all six rotations and moving fellow senior Diane Schmidlin into the center back position. "Those two moves improved our serve receive," Gober said.

Senior Karie Downing also closed out her career with a team-high 13 digs. Gober said all of the seniors were hoping their last game would be something they look back on later with great memories. "The seniors were all talking about finishing their career," said Gober.

With her 16 kills Sunday, Winslow completed her career with 1,177 kills, which is sixth all-time.

Tennessee State's Santia Sanders and Vicmari Prospero powered the Tigers with 11 kills each. Tennessee State completed the season with a 9-18 record.

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