Kansas City
0-4,0-0Summit League
Eastern Illinois
3-0,0-0OVC
Kansas City Concedes Pair at Saluki Bash
9/5/2025 9:40:00 PM | Volleyball
Roos swept in straight sets by Panthers & Salukis, will face Aggies Saturday morning
CARBONDALE ILL. - The Roos were unable to see the volleyball bounce their way Friday night as Kansas City (0-5) fell in straight sets in both their contests to Eastern Illinois (4-0) and Southern Illinois (3-2) at the Banterra Center. Kansas City had to wait a little longer than anticipated as the previous match between SIU and New Mexico State went longer than expected, pushing the start time for KC to 1:10 p.m. instead of the originally scheduled noon first serve.Â
The Roos first match started off competitive as KC and EIU exchanged points in the early going with the Panthers breaking away on a five point run to grab an 11-5 advantage. The Roos trailed for the remainder of the set and fell 25-15 in the opener. The Panthers once again got ahead of Kansas City early in set two, leading 12-4 after a few attack errors by the Roos. KC got to as close as five at the 20-15 mark thanks to a pair of kills by freshman outside hitter Mia Weaver. EIU went on to take the second set 25-17.Â
Kansas City got the most points in the match through the duration of set three, earning 20 thanks to the efforts of Weaver with four kills, Doga Eski posting three kills and Ledisi Kpea snagging two herself in the frame. Still, Kansas City didn't have enough to overcome Eastern Illinois, losing the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.Â
Weaver finished with nine kills to lead the team while Kpea was second with eight for the match. Eski and Kailee Deffebaugh both had a pair of service aces and four of the Roos five for the match. Chloe Kaminski had 15 digs, her second double figure dig match of the season. The Roos committed 21 attack errors as a team and six errors on services.Â
The Roos got off to a slow start in the second match of the day, this one against the hosting Salukis. KC allowed six straight points to open up the first set but followed it up with a 5-1 scoring run which cut the deficit down to just two points. At its closest the margin was two points at 12-10 before a 13-4 scoring run from the Salukis busted the first set wide open in favor of SIU. The Roos first lead came to begin the second set as Ryanne Wattree blew a ball by the Saluki line to put the Roos in the lead 1-0.Â
From there, Kansas City and Southern Illinois exchanged small scoring runs with the Roos leading by as much as three at 15-12 following a right side block by Deffebaugh and Lyla Jones. The Roos relinquished the lead when SIU's Larissa Seger got a kill to make it 17-16. The Salukis closed out the second set but not without a tight battle from Kansas City at 25-22 to go up 2-0. Set three saw plenty of evenly matched action until a 8-1 SIU run propelled them into a 17-10 lead. The Salukis closed the match out with a 25-19 decision to earn the 3-0 victory.Â
Wattree and Nyle Mathis led the Roos in kills with eight each against SIU. Weaver was the lone Roo to reach the double figure mark in points with 10 for the match. As a team, KC got four service aces, landed 35 kills on 108 total attacks but were responsible for 20 errors offensively. Kansas City aims to snag a victory at the Saluki Bash Saturday morning against New Mexico State at 11 a.m. from the Banterra Center.
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