The Shocker volleyball team was rejuvenated from last week’s loss against Missouri State after winning back-to-back road matches against Southern Illinois and Evansville this weekend.

Friday

The Shockers started their weekend in Carbondale, Ill., against the Southern Illinois Salukis, beating them in only three sets.

While Wichita State did defeat Southern Illinois 3­0, the Salukis didn’t just hand the win to the Shockers.

In the first set, SIU took the lead early, 2­0, but team leaders Ashlyn Driskill, who had nine kills throughout the match, and Abbie Lehman, who had eight kills, quickly put a stop to the Saluki offense, pushing WSU ahead 4­3 via both of their kills.

While the Shockers couldn’t seem to shake the Salukis in the first set, a block by Lehman gave WSU the 19­15 lead.

The Shockers quickly sailed ahead for a 25­20 win in the first set.

The second set proved even more fruitful for WSU as the team not only took a four-point lead early in the game, but also continued to keep and expand on it.

Lehman, who made back-to-back kills, led WSU to a 17­11 lead, while freshman Mikaela Raudsepp finished the set with a kill, 25­18.

The Salukis were once again not so lucky in the third set going against the Shockers’ .353 hitting average and a side-out percentage of 71.

While SIU did hit their best in the last set and tied WSU 14 times with seven lead changes, the Shockers prevailed with a 25­21 score, finishing the set once again with a kill from Raudsepp.

Emily Hiebert led the team with 21 assists during the match, while Dani Mostrom had 13 digs.

Saturday

Coming off of a win, the Shockers kept their competitive fire alive against Evansville Saturday, completely shutting the team down.

In the first set, WSU gained an early lead, then utilized back-to-back blocks from Driskill to increase the score to 10­5.

MaryAshton Floyd and Jenny Whitledge had two kills each, increasing the score to 22­10, and Mostrom finished Evansville off with a service ace, giving WSU the win, 25­12.

The Shockers not only hit their best in the first set (.438), but their side-out percentage was 83 percent against Evansville’s hitting of .065 and 40 percent side-out.

The second set had a couple more tied scores but nothing the Shockers couldn’t handle as they still beat Evansville 25­16 on a screaming kill from Whitledge.

While WSU jumped to an early lead in the third set, Evansville came back to tie the game at 18.

However, the Shockers kept their cool, fighting the Aces until Whitledge made a crucial kill and Katie Reilly served a couple times, putting WSU two points ahead.

The Shockers clinched the win at 25­21 and are now 6­3 in the MVC and 12­7 overall.

The team plays again against Loyola at 7 p.m. Friday at Charles Koch Arena.