Box Score
MACOMB, Ill. — The Western Illinois volleyball team won its conference home opener 3-0 over Southern Utah Friday night at Brophy Hall.
The Fighting Leathernecks (4-8, 1-1 Summit League) felled the Thunderbirds (3-8, 1-2 Summit League) in straight sets 25-21, 25-19, 25-18.
"It was definitely nice to sweep. It was the first time this year that we came out focused," said Western Illinois coach Kym McKay. "We came out with the intent to play with urgency."
Both teams fought back-and-forth throughout the first set before Western broke an 18-18 tie with a 3-0 run to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The second set saw the Leathernecks jump out to an early lead it would extend to as much as 19-10 before settling on a six-point win. In the third set, SUU jumped out to an early lead which it held until the 11-10 mark before Western pulled ahead for good.
"Even though we started out the third set slow, we fought back," McKay said. "I think some of the girls were thinking about Bradley when we were up 2-0 and suddenly found ourselves in a game five. We definitely didn't want to do that again."
McKay said it was important to finish off the third set and not let the Thunderbirds back into the game.
"In conference play, you need to win and win as fast as possible," McKay said. "Southern Utah came out really well in set three and did what they had to do. Southern Utah, for a first-year program is very strong."
Western had three players record double-digit kills as Cait Egan had 13, Allison Gilbert had 11 and Brooke Stittleburg chipped in 10. McKay pointed out how efficient the team was with its attack as Gilbert (.474) and Stittleburg (.421) both hit over .400 and Egan hit .379.
"Our hitters took big swings and also used some smart shots," McKay said. "This is the first match we've had all year where we have worked our offense. We had some hitters take some big swings and then came in and hit the ball short. We scored a lot of points on that tonight."
Defensively, Western recorded 48 digs led by senior Elise Crnjak's 11 digs. Also, Ellen Miller had her fourth double-double of the season with 35 assists and 10 digs.
"We did a great job defensively. We were moving all over the place and running down a lot of balls," McKay said. "Ellen did a heck of a job with some of her setting choices, really forcing the ball where she needed to."
The Leathernecks welcome UMKC to Brophy Hall Saturday night to complete the Summit League weekend series. The Kangaroos (4-8, 0-3 Summit League) lost to IUPUI 3-1 Friday night.
"UMKC is a lot different than Southern Utah. Southern Utah is mostly strong on the left side whereas UMKC's offense is both their middle and their left side," McKay said. "We're going to be kept off balance. We're going to have to defend a lot more players.
"If we can control our unforced errors, I think we can be 2-0. We need to have confidence and expect to win tomorrow."
