"The coaches are very proud of the way the girls fought back and took control of the match," said Western Illinois head coach Kym McKay. "Edwardsville is very good at home and to get behind early on the road is tough. Fortunately, we made the necessary adjustments and controlled our side of the net better in order to get back into the match."

Junior Cait Egan had a team-high 16 kills and a .414 attack percentage to lead the Leathernecks offensively. Freshman Meghan Ross set a career-high with 12 kills and junior Allison Gilbert was in double-digits (10 kills) for the 15^th time this season. Junior middle hitter Megan Toczek had six kills over the final two sets and finished with a season-high seven kills and .300 attack percentage.

"We received clutch play from Meghan Ross on the outside and Megan Toczek really stepped up her game in the middle tonight. It was a solid team effort and we are anxious to build off this win once conference play starts again this weekend," McKay added.

Senior setter Ellen Miller had 39 assists and tied a season-high with 19 digs to post her fifth double-double of the season. Sophomore Bridget Murphy had a team-high 21 digs and Egan and Toczek were also strong defensively as the pair finished with 3.5 of Western's five total blocks.

Egan had three kills and two total blocks in the first set, but the Leathernecks were outhit .280-.071 and aced three times in a 25-15 SIU-E victory.  

In the second set, the Leathernecks fell behind early and were down 21-16 before Western tallied six straight points with Bridget Murphy serving to knot the score at 21-21. SIU-E countered with three consecutive points and served for set point before an attack error gave Western a chance to comeback. With Heather Smith serving, Western forced two SIU-E attack errors to tie the score at 24-24 and two consecutive kills from Cait Egan ended the set. Ross and Gilbert both put down four kills and the Leathernecks outhit SIU-E .280-.211.

Western controlled play early in the third set and was up 10-9 before SIU-E tallied four out of the next five points to take a 13-11 lead. The Leathernecks rallied to knot the score at 17-17 but an 8-2 run by SIU-E ended the set. Gilbert and Egan collected four kills apiece in the set.

In the fourth set, the Leathernecks had 13 kills, two aces and hit .237 in a dominating 25-17 victory to force a fifth set. Egan posted four kills and Toczek and Brooke Stittleburg added three apiece for Western.

Tied 7-7 in the final stanza, the Leathernecks went on a 7-0 run with freshman Jessie Lantz serving to take a commanding 14-7 lead. An attack error by Meghan Ross gave SIU-E the ball back, but Ross bounced back on the next serve to end the match with her 12^th kill of the night. Western hit .333 and held SIU-E to a -.048 attack percentage in the fifth set.

Western Illinois is back in Summit League action Friday at 7 p.m. when the Leathernecks host UMKC at Brophy Hall as part of Family Weekend. Western also hosts Southern Utah Saturday at 7 p.m.