THE COUGARS: Continue their 2022 campaign on September 23rd and 24th when SIUE travels to Charleston, Illinois to begin Ohio Valley Conference play. SIUE will play the Panthers on Friday at 6:00 p.m. before closing out the weekend on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT: SIUE went 1-2 at the Green Bay Invitational last weekend, dropping matches to Drake (12-25, 23-25, 18-25) and Green Bay (18-25, 25-23, 17-25, 16-25) while taking victory over North Dakota in a five set comeback (24-26, 21-25, 25-18, 29-27, 15-12).
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: The Cougars are on the road for the first 14 matches of the season with their home-opener slated for September 30 vs. Morehead State. SIUE is 5-6 on their road swing this season.
SERIES STUFF: SIUE is facing Eastern Illinois for the 26th time in program history dating back to 2008. The Cougars own a 14-12 record against the Panthers in the series and are 7-1 in their last eight matchups.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS: Eastern Illinois is 6-7 on the season and will be hosting its first home matches of the season this weekend. Last weekend, the Panthers dropped in three sets at Toledo before picking up the win vs. Duquesne.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sydney Hummert earned Offensive Player of the Week honors in the Ohio Valley Conference Sep. 19 after recording double-doubles in each game (18 kills, 10 digs vs. Drake), (13 kills, 10 digs vs. North Dakota), (12 kills, 13 digs at Green Bay).
OVC RANKS: Savannah Christian's .268 hitting percentage ranks eighth on the OVC individual leaderboard this season while her 110 kills rank fourth. Caroline Waite's 283 assists rank fifth and her 18 service aces rank fourth. Nicole Kijowski's 161 digs rank sixth in the conference.
LAST SEASON: In 2021, SIUE put together one of the most competitive nonconference schedules in program history, standing toe-to-toe against three squads ranked in the RPI Top 100 and eight ranked in the RPI Top 150. The Cougars finished ninth in the Ohio Valley Conference last season, with an overall record of 6-23 and 3-15 in conference play.
NEW FACES: SIUE welcomed five new faces in the off season. The Cougars brought in Priscilla Jones, Monica LaFleur, and Caroline Waite as transfers, while also adding freshmen Bree Schreimann and Paige Montgomery.
RETURNERS: Despite losing five graduating seniors, SIUE returns 10 players from the 2021 squad, including Savannah Christian (2.20 K/S), Julia Treichel (2.19 K/S), Nicole Kijowski (2.74 DIG/set), and Alyse Drifka (.294 PCT).
