Aug. 28, 2010

Box Score

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - After suffering a pair of five-set losses to start the season, Saint Louis closed the IPFW Invitational on Saturday afternoon with its first win of the 2010 campaign. The Billikens defeated Tulsa in straight sets (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) after falling to the host Mastodons 25-22, 29-27, 18-25, 18-25, 14-16 in their first match of the day.

Against Tulsa, Megan Boken tallied a team-high 16 kills to go with 15 digs and two solo blocks. Hannah Kvitle registered team highs of 40 assists, 17 digs and three blocks, while Alyssa Deno finished with 14 kills and six digs. Carly Marcum added nine kills and two blocks, Andrea Bolt recorded 14 digs and Andrea Beaty notched six kills, six digs and two blocks.

SLU raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first set with the help of two kills from Beaty and two kills and a solo block from Boken. The Golden Hurricane crept as close as 9-5, but the Bills answered with a three-point spurt to increase the margin to 12-5. Tulsa scored on a SLU error and a kill from Kelsey Hancock before a 5-0 run gave Saint Louis its largest lead at 18-7. Five kills from Hannah Stout powered a 9-0 run that helped the Golden Hurricane pull within two at 18-16. Boken answered with a kill and a Tulsa error pushed the lead back out to 20-16. Tyler Henderson recorded a pair of kills for the Hurricane, but SLU was able to close out the set with three consecutive points to earn the win. Boken posted a set-best seven kills as the Bills out-hit Tulsa .378 to .178.

The second set was more of a battle as the teams went through eight ties and three lead changes. Neither team led by more than two points until the Golden Hurricane used a Henderson kill and three Saint Louis mistakes to push ahead 13-10. After falling behind 14-11, the Bills scored seven consecutive points to regain the lead, which they would not relinquish for the rest of the set. Tulsa scored three of the next four points to close to 19-17 before Deno posted back-to-back kills to extend the lead to 21-17. A Diana Silva kill along with a Henderson-Stout block put the margin back at 21-19. But the Hurricane got no closer than two points the rest of the way as the Billikens gained the two-set lead. SLU limited Tulsa to just nine kills and a .111 hitting percentage, while the Bills hit at a .211 clip with 16 kills.

Henderson recorded an astounding 11 kills in the third set but it wasn't enough as the rest of her teammates contributed just five kills to assist the offense. A team-high eight kills from Deno helped the Billikens out-hit Tulsa .311 to .262. The Golden Hurricane was the first team to lead by more than two points when it went up 15-12 on three straight Henderson terminations. Marcum and Deno helped SLU scored six of the next nine points to draw the Bills even at 18-18. Saint Louis never fell behind from there as Henderson was the only Tulsa player that scored the rest of the match.

In the opening set against IPFW, the squads endured five ties before the Mastodons earned a 7-5 edge on a Taryn Parker kill paired with a SLU hitting error. IPFW remained ahead until the Bills went up 12-11 courtesy of a Carly Schumacher-Boken block, a Mastodon hitting error and kill from Deno. A 4-0 spurt put IPFW back on top 15-12. Saint Louis trailed 18-13 when a Boken kill sparked a 5-0 run that allowed the Billikens to knot the score at 18-18. The Mastodons immediately regained a two-point advantage on kills from Parker and Stephanie Lamberti. The teams then traded points before Kvitle tallied a pair of service aces and Schumacher and Beaty teamed for a block to put SLU in front 23-21. IPFW pulled to within one, but Deno collected two of her set-best eight kills to end the set in the Billikens' favor. Saint Louis out-hit the Mastodons .233 to .143.

Serving errors plagued the Billikens in set two. However, their strong blocking along nine kills from Deno and Kvitle's 15 assists made the difference. Neither team captured a lead of more than a single point until IPFW broke away with seven consecutive tallies to grab a 14-7 advantage. A kill from Deno halted the run and was followed by three double blocks and a Boken kill as the Bills drew within 14-12. The Mastodons gradually increased their lead to 18-13 before Saint Louis staged another comeback. Boken terminated and teamed with Marcum on a block to get the Bills back within three. Then an IPFW hitting error and a solo block from Boken trimmed it to 18-17. From there Saint Louis never fell behind by more than two points, eventually earned a 22-21 edge on a Deno kill and a bad set by the Mastodons. The Billikens would not trail after that and battled through six stalemates before Kvitle posted a solo block and Deno terminated to give SLU the two-set lead.

Following a 3-3 tie in set three, Saint Louis was only able to get within one on three occasions. IPFW built a lead as large as eight points en route to the win. The Mastodons hit at an efficient .242 clip with just three hitting errors, while the Bills committed eight attack errors to post a .050 hitting percentage.

Saint Louis took control early in set four, breaking free from a 5-5 tie due to two kills and a block by Boken in addition to a Marcum kill. The Billikens were up 12-8 when an eight-point swing, aided by five SLU errors, allowed IPFW to seize a 16-12 edge. The Mastodons never let their lead dwindle to fewer than three points the rest of the way. IPFW was more effective offensively and from the service line in the fourth set, committing just one service error and one hitting mistake for a .333 attacking percentage. Meanwhile, Saint Louis tallied three serving errors and eight hitting errors for a .184 attacking percentage.

IPFW scored the first point of the final set and let the lead slip away just once during the entire stanza. The Mastodons shook a 4-4 tie courtesy of a SLU service error and consecutive kills from Lamberti and Parker. But the Billikens got three straight kills from Schumacher, Deno and Beaty to draw even at 7-7. A Parker kill and a bad set by Saint Louis put IPFW back on top 9-7. After trading points, the Bills pulled even once again at 10-10 on a Schumacher-Beaty block followed by a Beaty kill. The squads tied at points 11, 12 and 13 before SLU earned its first lead of the set at 14-13 on a ball handling error by the Mastodons. But the Billikens couldn't finish it off and IPFW scored three straight points on a double block and kills from Lamberti and Maya Schlindwein to earn the win.

Deno paced the offense with a match- and career-high 24 kills, and completed a double-double with a career-best 11 digs. Boken added 17 kills, a team-high 20 digs and a career-high-tying six blocks. Marcum turned in career highs of 12 kills and three blocks. Kvitle finished with a double-double of 54 assists and 14 digs, while also contributing three service aces and three blocks. Beaty notched 18 digs, eight kills and four blocks, while Bolt registered 18 digs and Schumacher tied for match-high honors with six blocks.

Saint Louis Billikens Women's Volleyball

• VB: Billiken Invitational