By: Howard Woodard
Saluki volleyball will start their regular season this weekend as they’ll travel to Huntsville to compete in the Alabama A&M Tournament. They’ll face off against Chattanooga on August 30, Idaho on the 31st, and Oral Roberts on the 1st of September. They’re coming off an exhibition match at St. Louis where they got swept 3-0. There will be eight new Salukis on the floor this season, including five freshmen. A returning face is senior setter Anna Jaworski, who posted 1,336 assists in her junior year, which ranked second in the country. After losing several prolific seniors such as Nataly Garcia, Tatum Tornatta, and Imani Hartfield, SIU will look to continue their winning ways after finishing 20-12 last year and clinching a berth in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. It was the program’s first 20-win season since 2015 and their third straight year with a winning record. Heading into 2024, SIU was voted 5th in the MVC Preseason Poll. Under the tutelage of head coach Ed Allen, the Dawgs have been playing good volleyball in recent seasons. Allen has the sixth most wins in the country among active Division I coaches (705) and has only had 3 losing seasons across 33 years as a head coach. He has taken home six conference coach-of-the-year awards, made it to nine conference championships, and six of his teams have appeared in the NCAA Tournament. With the departure of productive players in the program’s history, different faces will look to step up in 2024.
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