 Bills Fall to Veteran Milwaukee Club in Season Opener
Aug. 27, 2010
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - After holding an early lead, Saint Louis suffered a heart-breaking 27-25, 18-25, 25-18, 15-25, 13-15 loss to a more experienced Milwaukee squad in its season opener at the IPFW Invitational in Fort Wayne, Ind., Friday afternoon. Senior Megan Boken registered five blocks and 12 digs and completed a double-double with a match-high 16 kills. Junior Alyssa Deno contributed 15 kills and five digs, while sophomore Andrea Bolt led all players with a career-high 22 digs. Redshirt freshman Carly Schumacher posted a match-best seven blocks with nine kills while hitting at a match-high .500 clip Freshman Hannah Kvitle dished out 46 assists and tallied five digs and rookie Andrea Beaty recorded nine digs and six kills. SLU trailed for nearly the entire first set before staging a late comeback. The Bills were down 19-15 when a Panther error combined with a kill from Boken trimmed the margin to 19-17. A Saint Louis mistake cost them a point before Boken and Deno sandwiched kills around a Milwaukee error to draw even at 20-20. SLU gained its first lead when the Panthers committed another error. Deno took charge late in the set with a pair of kills, a solo block and a service ace to give the Billikens the set-one victory. The Panther offense and blocking front caught fire in the second set. Milwaukee built a lead as large as eight midway through the contest. SLU was only able to draw within four at 21-17. A few Billiken mistakes proved costly as SLU was out-hit .346 to .152 in the loss.
After the break, the Billikens stormed out of the locker room. Saint Louis created a lead as large as six points at 12-6. But then the Bills recorded three straight errors, allowing Milwaukee to get within 12-9. Deno terminated before a Jena Berg kill and a block from Natalie Schmitting cut it to 13-11. But things went SLU's way shortly after that as the hitting errors began to affect the Panther lineup. SLU scored the next four points on three Milwaukee miscues and a Schumacher kill. The Panthers never got closer than four points the rest of the way. SLU compiled its best hitting percentage of the match in set three (.294), while Milwaukee suffered its poorest offensive set at .100. In the fourth set, the teams endured four ties before Milwaukee posted consecutive kills to seize a 6-4 edge. But the lead didn't last long as the Bills scored the next three points to go up 7-6 on a Carly Marcum block followed by two Panther mistakes. Three more stalemates followed before kills by Deno and Boken combined with another Milwaukee hitting error putting SLU ahead 12-9. The Billikens held a 14-11 lead when the Panthers put together a 7-0 run to regain the 18-14 advantage. A serving error briefly interrupted the rally, which restarted moments later when Milwaukee rattled off seven straight points to earn the set-four win. Milwaukee jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the deciding set courtesy of kills from Berg and Kerri Schuh. But the Billikens slowly waged a comeback as serving errors haunted the Panthers. A Kvitle kill helped SLU earn its first tie of the set at 6-6. The teams traded points before Saint Louis went up 11-9 on a Schumacher kill followed by a Milwaukee error. However, a Schmitting kill and a Saint Louis mistake brought things even at 11-11. Deno broke the tie with a kill of her own, but the next two points went to the Panthers to make it 13-12. Schumacher and Beaty teamed for a block to help the Bills forge a 13-13 tie, but a Schuh kill and a double block by Milwaukee gave the Panthers the season-opening victory. |
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