Sept. 6, 2003

Final Stats

Springfield, Mo. - The Saint Louis University volleyball team closed out action in SMS' Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational with a 3-1 loss to BYU on Saturday. Game scores were 30-32, 30-23, 30-18, 30-22. The Billikens fall to 2-6 on the season, while BYU improves to 4-2.

BYU took the early lead in game one but the Billikens rattled off a 6-0 run to take an 11-7 lead. The Cougars edged ahead at 17-14 but an Erin McClanahan kill started a quick 3-1 run to draw the Bills to 18-17. However, BYU scored five straight points to take a 23-17 advantage. Two straight kills by Hunter stemmed the tide, and an unassisted kill by Cooley pulled SLU to 23-20. The teams traded points until SLU pieced together two straight to draw within two at 28-26. After a BYU kill, McClanahan and Hunter downed consecutive kills to cut the deficit to 29-28. Cooley had a kill after a BYU overpass, and Hunter notched another kill to push SLU to game point. BYU equalized, but Hunter put the Billikens back up 31-30. On the next serve, BYU was called for a net violation and the Billikens earned a hard-fought 32-30 victory. SLU had 20 kills in the game and hit .309 to survive BYU's .380 team hitting percentage.

Game two was tight in the early going but BYU slowly edged out to a 14-11 lead. The Cougars went on a 5-1 run for a 19-12 margin. A BYU service error and a Bills' block by Hunter and Cooley trimmed the margin to 19-14, but BYU responded with five of the next six points and a 22-15 advantage. But the Cougars would not relinquish the lead and went on to take game two 30-23 and even the match 1-1. BYU continued its hot-hitting with 18 kills on just 36 swings and a .389 hitting percentage. The Billikens cooled off in game two with a .148 hitting rate.

BYU claimed an early three-point lead at 6-3 and maintained it at 12-9. The Cougars then scored seven of the next eight points to run out to an 19-10 lead.The Billikens cut the lead to 20-12 but BYU took its first double-digit lead and held on for a 30-18 win. The Cougars continued to increase their hitting percentage and clicked off a .394 hitting percentage. The Billiken blocking picked up in game three with 4.0 team blocks.

Game four was close as neither team led by more than two points until BYU carved out a 13-10 lead. The Cougars pushed out to a 17-13 lead, but the Billikens twice cut the lead to two. However, BYU tallied five of the next points and settled for a 30-22 win to close out the match.

Ashley Hunter and Jessica Kmitta both registered double-doubles for the Billikens. Hunter had 12 kills and 10 digs, while Kmitta had 10 kills and 10 digs. Jessica Poorbaugh had a team-high 15 digs. Kim Wilson had 29 kills and 13 digs to pace BYU.

The Billikens return home on Tue., Sept. 9, when they host Western Illinois for a 7 p.m. match at Bauman-Eberhardt Center.