Sept. 20, 2002

Final Stats

Springfield, Mo. - The Saint Louis University Billikens opened the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over UMKC in Springfield, Mo. Game scores were 30-24, 30-26, 25-30, 21-30, 15-10.

The Billikens opened game one with two straight points and eventually took a 7-3 lead. UMKC came back to tie the game at 10-10 and surged to a 15-12 lead. The Billikens answered with a 4-1 run to tie the game. The game was tied six more times until the Bills rattled off four straight points to take a 25-21 lead. Ashley Hunter sparked the run with a kill, and after a UMKC hitting error, Jessica Kmitta served an ace and Colleen Hunter drilled a kill. With the Billikens leading 28-24, Colleen Hunter led the Bills with seven kills and seven digs. The Billikens were strong on the defensive end and had 25 digs to just 16 for the Kangaroos.

UMKC bounced back by jumping out to a 4-1 in game two. But the Billikens responded with a 5-0 run to grab a 6-4 advantage. The Bills held on to a narrow advantage until UMKC tied the game at 17-17. Knobeloch broke the deadlock with a kill, followed by Kmitta and Ashley Hunter kill and Colleen Hunter ended game two at 30-26 with a kill down the line. Colleen Hunter sparkled in game two with eight kills on just 13 attempts without an error. UMKC stepped up their attack with a .268 hitting percentage but the Bills topped that with a .289 of their own.

Game three was tied at 5-5 before the Billikens tallied four straight points for a 9-5 lead. The Kangaroos slowly inched back into the game and eventually tied the score at 13-13. UMKC took its first lead at 18-17 and stretched the margin to 24-19. Colleen Hunter kept the Bills alive with three kills and an ace, but the Kangaroos held on to extend the match with a 30-25 win. The Billiken offense dipped a bit in game three as SLU hit just .167 in the game.

UMKC continued its momentum by jumping out to a quick lead. The Kangaroos led 6-5 and scored five straight for an 11-5 lead. The Bills ended the run with a kill, but UMKC outscored SLU 5-1 and took command at 16-7. The Billikens closed the gap to seven at 25-18 and again at 27-20, but the Kangaroos kept the Bills at bay to force the decisive fifth game. The UMKC offense continued its strong play and had 18 kills and hit .273 for the game.

In the deciding game, Saint Louis led 3-2 and pushed out to a 6-3 advantage. After a UMKC kill, the Kangaroos hit two straight balls into the net to put the Billiken advantage at 8-4. Jessica Kmitta tip ended the UMKC run, but the Kangaroos answered with a kill to make it 13-10. Hunter placed a ball down in the middle of the court to push the Billikens to match point. On UMKC's first attempt, Middendorf notched a solo block to win the match.

Colleen Hunter pounded down 28 kills and completed her 41st career double-double with 16 digs while hitting .382. She also added four blocks, four assists and two aces. Ember Knobeloch contributed 10 kills while Brooke Minniear tied Hunter for team high honors with 16 digs. Beth Middendorf dished out 50 assists and added 11 digs. Julie Malm had a career-high 11 digs. Six Billikens reached double-figures in kills. Lindsey Zerr paced UMKC with 15 kills and 10 digs while Jana Lacer had a match-high 19 digs.

The Billikens improve to 8-4 on the season while the Kangaroos drop to 8-5. The Bills play Wichita State at 9 a.m. on Saturday and close out the tournament against host SMS at 7 p.m.