Sept. 1, 2001

Stats

Indianapolis - The Billiken volleyball team came up just short in the title match against host squad Butler in the DoubleTree Invitational in Indianapolis. The Bulldogs edged the Billikens 3-2. Game scores were 23-30, 30-23, 30-25, 28-30 and 15-11. Billiken junior Colleen Hunter was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player while Ember Knobeloch and Shannan Swiney were selected to the All-Tournament team.

Game one saw Butler jump out to a huge lead before the Billikens battled back to take the lead and the game, 30-23. Butler led 7-5 and rattled off six straight points to take a 13-5 advantage. The Billikens slowly whittled away at the lead and used their own 6-0 run to shrink an 18-11 deficit to 18-17. Eventually the Bills tied the game at 20-20 on a Shannon Swiney ace. Two kills by Colleen Hunter and one by Ember Knobeloch for a block. After an exchange of points, a Bulldogs error made the score 28-22 and two consecutive kills by Knobeloch closed out the game at 30-23. The Bills hit .250 in the first game while holding Butler to a .114 mark.

The Billikens scored the first four points of game two but the Bulldogs quickly cameback to take the lead. Butler used two 3-1 runs to tie the game at 6-6 and grabbed the lead at 9-6. SLU closed the gap to 10-9 but the Bulldogs answered with four straight points. Butler led 15-13 and outscored the Bills 8-3 for a 23-16 advantage and moved on for a 30-23 win. The Bulldogs picked up the attack and hit .278 in the second game while the Bills dipped to a .167 hitting percentage. Knobeloch paced the Billikens with nine kills in the game.

Through the first third of game three, neither team led by more than two points until Butler turned an 11-10 deficit into a 15-11 lead. The Billikens cut the margin to 15-13, but the Bulldogs pushed the advantage to 21-15. SLU bounced right back with five points in a row to close to 21-20 with kills by four different players. A Missy Werges ace made cut Butler's lead to 26-25, but the Bulldogs closed out the game with four points in a row.

Facing elimination with the score tied at 24-24 in game four, the Billikens scored three straight points for a 27-24 margin. Butler closed to 29-28 but Knobeloch drilled a ball down the middle which deflected off two Butler players for a close 30-28 win. The Billikens launched 19 kills at the Bulldogs and hit .250 to push the game to a decisive fifth game.

With the score tied 8-8 in the deciding game, Butler scored five straight points, including two aces to assume a 13-8 lead. Leonard drilled a ball to end the streak at 13-9, but Butler scored on the next play for a 14-9 lead. Hunter put down a kill to make it 14-10. Werges put down a difficult ball down the line to pull the Billiken to 14-11. But a deep cut shot across the court was wide and the Bulldogs escaped with a 15-11 victory.

Swiney handed out 56 assists and had a career-high five kills. Knobeloch had a match-high 19 kills while Hunter had 15 kills and 17 digs, for her third straight double-double of the tournament. Brooke Minniear had 22 digs.

The Billikens fall to 1-2 while Butler remained perfect at 3-0. The Billikens next match is Wed., Sept. 5, when they host Murray State in the 2001 home opener at 7 p.m. at Bauman-Eberhardt Center.