CARBONDALE, Ill. – Alabama A&M (0-4, 0-0 SWAC) dropped a pair of matches on the first day of the Saluki Bash falling 3-0 to host Southern Illinois (2-2, 0-0 MVC) and Oral Roberts (5-0, 0-0 Summit) in NCAA Division I women's volleyball matches on Friday, September 3. The Bulldogs fell 25-10, 25-15, 25-11 to SIU and 25-11, 25-17, 25-10 to Oral Roberts.
 
Southern Illinois 3, Alabama A&M 0
The Salukis made the first move securing an early 15-5 lead that consisted of six kills, with two apiece from Nataly Garcia and Tatum Tornatta. From there, SIU would then expand their lead with an 8-3 run that included three consecutive kills to stretch the margin to 23-9. From there the Salukis would close out the first set with a 25-10 victory.
 
Southern Illinois would start the next set with a 5-0 run before extending their lead to13-4. The Bulldogs would then respond with back-to-back kills from junior middle hitter Alana Cox (Madison, Ala.) and freshman middle hitter Samaurya Mahone (Duncanville,Texas) as they used an 8-4 run to close the gap to 17-12. SIU would then answer with an 8-1 burst of their own to extend their lead to 21-13. That run was a precursor to the Salukis 25-10 set win.
 
The Bulldogs found themselves down just one, 5-4, before Southern Illinois notched a pair of 4-0 runs that produced an 18-9 lead. They would then score seven of the next nine points to wrap up the frame and match with a 25-11 decision.
 
Freshman middle hitter India Rhodes (Chandler, Ariz.) lead the Bulldogs with five kills while freshman setter M'Kenna Albert (Southfield, Mich.) fueled the offense with 11 assists. Mahone chipped in with four digs and freshman middle hitter Ryann Tolbert (Southfield, Mich.) and Rhodes each produced a block to round out the top performers.
 
Garcia had seven kills for the Salukis while Anna Jaworski dished out 26 assists and Alex Washington and Katy Kluge lead the defense with six digs.
 
Oral Roberts 3, Alabama A&M 0
Oral Roberts kicked things off with a 5-0 outburst before the Bulldogs answered with a mini 3-0 run that reflected a close 5-3 score. AAMU would produce consecutive kills by Tolbert and Mahone before the Golden Eagles extended their lead with an 8-0 run to push the score to 13-5. Freshman outside hitter Ta'Nya Burnett (West Memphis,Tenn.) responded for the Bulldogs with back-to-back kills before ORU would go on a 6-0 run to produce a lead of 19-7 and wrap up the first set by scoring six of the next eight points to end the set with a 25-11 victory.
 
A&M started the second set with a pair of kills from Tolbert before seeing the score tied to 6-6. Oral Roberts then took off on a 6-0 run that stretched the score to 16-8. The Bulldogs would deliver five kills, two from sophomore middle hitter Catherine Ndukwe (Detroit, Mich.) and one each from Mahone, Tolbert and Rhodes as they closed the gap to 22-17.
 
The Golden Eagles would then pull away, scoring three consecutive points to end the match 25-17.
 
Oral Roberts jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the final set before going on two 6-0 runs followed by a mini 3-0 burst that helped fuel a 23-7 advantage. The Bulldogs answered with a kill apiece from middle hitter Alondrah Santana (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico) and Mahone before Mackenzie Edwards would seal the match for the Golden Eagles, notching a kill to wrap up a 25-10 victory.
 
Mahone lead the Bulldogs with seven kills while freshman setter Aerienne Acuff (French Lick, Ind.) powered the offense with 19 assists. Rhodes rounded things out with a team high of nine digs.
 
Sakira LaCour had 11 kills for ORU while Sylvia Lawson produced 18 assists and Sarah Thiessen lead the defense with 13 digs.
 
The Bulldogs will take to the court again tomorrow morning, facing off against UT-Martin for their final match of the Saluki Bash. Game time is slated for 11 a.m. in Carbondale, Illinois.