SLU Women Perfect in A-10 Volleyball

[SluSignGuy]

No. 20 Billikens Sweep Xavier, Complete Perfect A-10 Season

SLU breaks program record with 16th straight victory

Nov. 16, 2008

Box Score

CINCINNATI, Ohio - One day after capturing its first outright Atlantic 10 Conference West Division regular-season volleyball crown, No. 20 Saint Louis completed a perfect conference season with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-18 win at Xavier in the regular-season finale on Sunday afternoon. The victory was the Billilkens' 16th in a row, one better than the previous program standard.

SLU (24-4, 13-0 A-10), which achieved the program's most wins since the 1996 season, is the first team since the 1997 Temple squad to complete the regular-season conference slate with an unblemished record. It is also the winningest campaign in Anne Kordes' head coaching career.

Sammi McCloud, Bridget Fonke and Whitney Roth each posted double-doubles in the victory. McCloud turned in a match-high 14 kills and a team-best 12 digs, Fonke recorded 10 kills and 11 digs and Roth collected 32 assists and 10 digs. Whitney Behrens also registered double-figure digs for SLU with 10, while Sally Warning contributed six kills and a match-high five blocks. Megan Boken also chipped in seven kills and six digs. Kelly Ruth and Chelsea Campbell each had seven kills to power the Musketeers. Jenn Welsh led XU with 24 assists and Megan Hellmann tallied a match-high 13 digs.

The Bills broke a 3-3 tie with a pair of kills from Boken and one from Lauren Christman to take the lead for good at 6-3 in the opening set. A short while later Saint Louis extended its lead to eight points courtesy of a 7-2 spurt that included a kill and a block apiece from Fonke and Warning in addition to a Musketeer hitting error. Ruth posted three kills in the late stages of the set but her team would get no closer than six points the rest of the way as SLU hit at a .433 clip and posted five blocks in the opening stanza.

Fonke and McCloud each had two kills early in the second set to help Saint Louis to a 7-4 advantage. However, the lead was short-lived as Xavier (15-13, 8-5 A-10) came charging back with five straight points, including two on Billiken hitting errors to claim a 9-7 lead. Fonke and McCloud sandwiched kills around a Roth-McCloud block to put SLU back on top by one. The two teams then waged a battle of points as they remained deadlocked until the Bills broke a 16-16 tie with a Fonke-Warning block and two kills from McCloud to go up 19-16. A SLU hitting error on the next attempt allowed Xavier to get within two but the Billikens outscored the Musketeers 6-3 to end the set with a win. In the second set, McCloud and Fonke had seven and five kills, respectively, while no Xavier player had more than two. The Bills again out-hit their competition .321 to .143.

A pair of SLU mistakes and a Lauren Kaminsky kill gave Xavier a 6-3 edge in the third set. Kills from McCloud and Christman and a Musketeer error allowed the Bills to knot the score at 6-6. Following a 7-7 stalemate, Saint Louis went on an 11-2 run that increased the margin to nine points at 18-9. During that stretch, Fonke, McCloud and Warning each added two kills with McCloud and Warning also recording a pair of blocks apiece. The Billikens extended their lead to 10 points on a Boken kill and a bad set from Xavier. XU drew as close as five points at 22-17 after mounting a 5-0 run that included kills from Campbell and Shannon Voors and three SLU errors. But SLU scored three of the next four points to complete its A-10 slate unbeaten.

The Billikens earned the No. 1 seed in next weekend's A-10 Championship at Chaifetz Pavilion in St. Louis. SLU will play at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22.

[Cowboy]

fantastic regular season ladies!!!!!!

best of luck for a memorable post season!!!!

[kevinfootes]

fantastic regular season ladies!!!!!!

best of luck for a memorable post season!!!!

That's just an excellent outcome.

[Billikan]

This is a truly great accomplishment. Congrats to the team, the coaches and all involved. Really great stuff!