Nov. 24, 2002

Chicago - The Saint Louis University volleyball team fell to top-seeded Louisville 3-0 in the semifinals of the 2002 Healthy Choice Conference USA Volleyball tournament in Chicago. Game scores were 20-30, 22-30, 24-30 at the DePaul Athletic Center.

The Billikens tallied the first four points of the match, but the Cardinals slowly cut into the lead. Louisville forged a tie at 8-8, but the Bills rebuilt another lead at 13-10. Saint Louis still led at 15-13, but then the Cardinals took command. The Billikens hurt themselves with three hitting errors and UL had three kills and an ace in a 7-0 outburst for a 20-15 lead. SLU scored two of the next three points to make the score 21-17, but Louisville ended the game with a 9-3 run. Colleen Hunter led SLU with seven kills as the Billikens had 14 kills to UL's 15. However, Louisville hit .353 versus .143 for the Bills.

It was Louisville that grabbed the early lead in game two and kept the Billikens at bay. The Cardinals scored four straight points to open game two. UL still led 9-5 and extended the margin to as big as seven at 18-11. The Billikens cut the lead to 21-16 on a kill by Colleen Hunter kill made it 27-21, but Louisville scored three of the next four points for a 30-22 win. Hunter had six kills on nine swings but as a team the Billikens dipped to a .125 hitting percentage.

Game three was close in the early part and was tied 9-9. The Billikens used three straight kills by Colleen Hunter kill later closed the gap to 26-23. The Cards tallied three in a row and forced match point. Ashley Hunter extended the match with a kill, but Stacey Mercer placed a ball on the line to end the match.

Colleen Hunter finished with a match-high 17 kills and added eight digs. Knobeloch added nine kills and three blocks, while Ashley Hunter contributed eight kills. Minniear tied for match high honors with 13 digs. Beth Middendorf dished out 24 assists. Bing Sun led three Cardinals in double figures with 12 kills, and Sarah Drury finished with 13 digs. Louisville only had three more kills than the Billikens but SLU committed 11 more errors. The Bills outdug UL 49-47 but the Cards had 10.0 team blocks to 6.0 for SLU.

The No. 4 seeded Billikens are now 21-10 on the season while Louisville improves to 25-4.