Oct. 25, 2002

Final Stats

St. Louis - Saint Louis topped Marquette 3-1 tonight in a Conference USA volleyball match at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center. The Billikens posted their 15th win of the year surpassing their 2001 win total and snapped a two-game losing streak with the 30-27, 19-30, 30-26, 31-29 decision.

In a tightly contested first game, Saint Louis opened its biggest lead at 28-25 on three consecutive Golden Eagles errors. Colleen Hunter drilled the winner to the middle of the floor to end the game. Hunter led the Bills with 10 kills as the Bills hit .233, while the Eagles hit only .075.

The Golden Eagles turned the tables on SLU 30-19 in game two. With freshman outside hitter Agnieszka Niemcezewska leading the way with seven kills, the Eagles improved their hitting percentage to .353, while the Billikens dropped to .205. The Eagles kept Hunter out of the mix as the Billikens' C-USA Player of the Year candidate had only eight swings and five kills.

Struggling in the early stages of game three, Saint Louis trailed by as many as five as the Bills' service error total reached 10 before the first ace of the night was recorded. Senior outside hitter Missy Werges kept the Bills close with her hitting and blocking before Hunter's kill gave SLU the lead for good at 24-23. Junior Alyson Merchant contributed a key block to give SLU its biggest lead at 26-23. Werges closed the game with her fifth kill of the game as the Billikens prevailed 30-26.

In a back-and-forth game four, Marquette surged to a 14-11 lead, but Hunter's kill sparked the Billikens to a dominating run and a 26-20 advantage. The Eagles rallied with seven straight points, but another Hunter kill tied the match at 28. After the Eagles reclaimed the lead, Merchant's kill tied it at 29. After Ember Knobeloch's block gave the Bills a 30-29 edge, Marquette's final attack attempt sailed wide, and SLU survived 31-29.

With five digs on the night, Hunter surpassed the 1,000 dig mark for her career to become only the eighth Billiken to reach that plateau. Hunter topped the Bills with 26 kills, and Werges collected 13 to tie her career high. The Billikens hit .235 for the match. Beth Middendorf had 44 assists. Merchant, who gave the Bills a big boost off the bench, finished with four kills and doubled her previous career-high with four blocks.

Marquette (10-10 overall, 1-6 C-USA) hit .182 for the match as Niemcezewsha and Shannon Devine each had 15 kills. Gemma Greer paced MU with 50 assists.

Saint Louis (15-8 overall, 5-2 C-USA) hosts DePaul Saturday night at 7 p.m. to complete the weekend homestand.