Eagles fall four points short of completing reverse sweep at SIUE

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.- University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (8-16, OVC 3-9) dropped the series against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (10-13, OVC 5-7) in five sets on Saturday afternoon nearly completing the reverse sweep (17-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 11-15).
 
USI falls back into a three-way tie for the final spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with Eastern Illinois University and University of Tennessee at Martin. Junior Keira Moore (31) and senior Abby Weber (17) totaled season bests in digs.
 
Set 1: USI 17, SIUE 25
Five different Eagles were involved in kills to start the match in a 5-5 start. USI fell behind 12-17, but seniors Paris Downing and Jasmine Green helped the Eagles pull within four. The Eagles struggled to avoid blocks as the Cougars tallied five, snatching set one. USI attackers also failed to avoid errors committing eight attacking errors, losing their 19^th first set of the season.
 
Set 2: USI 22, SIUE 25
Both teams traded points, but the Cougars stayed close with four Eagles attacking errors tying the set at nine. Weber gave the Eagles a spark from the serve line with a four-point run. Junior Bianca Anderson showed incredible touch with a finesse kill to extend USI’s lead to 15-12. SIUE came out of the media timeout on fire with a four-point run to force USI to call a timeout with four kills and a block. Sophomore Ellie Marbet smoked a kill cross court bringing the Eagles within one, 20-21. USI faltered down the stretch once again as the…