Sept. 14, 2004

Final Stats

Indianapolis - The short-handed Saint Louis Billikens put forth a valiant effort but fell short in a 3-1 loss at Butler on Tuesday. The Bulldogs won by the scores of 30-26, 22-30, 30-20, 30-16. The Billikens fall to 3-5 on the season, while Butler improves to 4-4. Junior Lauren Boissevain and sophomore Jessica Poorbaugh led the Billikens with 13 kills each, while freshman libero Chrissy King finished with 25 digs, the most by a SLU player this season. The Billikens were playing without kills leader Aida Antanaviciute who missed the contest due to an illness.

"I was proud of the effort tonight," head coach Anne Kordes said. "We have faced adversity all season long and tonight was no different. Due to injury and illness, we had to play another different lineup, but we played a strong match, especially defensively."

Butler started the match quickly and scored the first six points of game one. The Billikens put on a sterling comeback and quickly but the deficit to 8-7. Mo Shortal started the rally with two straight kills. Alexis Cooley and Jessica Poorbaugh teamed for a block, and a Bulldogs hitting error brought SLU to just one. Butler led by three at 13-10 but built a 22-14 lead. The Bills put forth one more late charge. A Poorbaugh kill was the first of three straight points as the Billikens trimmed the margin to 27-24. However, the teams traded points the rest of the way as Butler took game one 30-26.

The Billikens edged out to an early 7-5 lead but then scored five straight points in a 7-1 run. After a Butler serving error, the Billikens received three straight kills, and Erin McClanahan's service ace capped the outburst. After a Bulldogs' kill, the Billikens forced two straight errors to take a 14-6 advantage. Butler slowly cut the lead to 16-12, but the Billikens answered with a kill by Lauren Boissevain to start a 3-0 run. The Bulldogs closed to 19-14, but the Billikens again rattled off three straight points. Boissevain had a kill and a solo block to lead the way to a 22-14 lead. After a Sutton Lasater kill down the middle, McClanahan served up two straight aces for a double-digit lead. The Billikens closed out game two on a Poorbaugh tip 30-22. After struggling on the offensive end in game one, the Bills sizzled in game two with a .368 hitting percentage, notching 18 kills.

Butler took the early lead in game three at 9-7 moved to a 13-8 advantage. The Billikens rallied with a 7-2 outburst and trimmed the lead to just 17-15. Shortal had a kill, a block and an ace to feed the run. Butler stretched the margin to 21-16, but the Billikens answered with a Cooley kill, and an ace by Chrissy King to close the gap 21-18. SLU was still only down three at 22-19, but Butler scored three straight and held on for a 30-20 decision.

After a kill by Lasater to open game four, Poorbaugh took over for the Billikens with four straight kills. But, the Bulldogs pushed for a 10-6 lead. Another kill by Poorbaugh, and a tandem block by Shortal and Lasater pulled SLU to 14-9, but the Bulldogs scored four straight. A Butler hitting error and a kill by Shortal trimmed the deficit to 17-12, but the Bulldogs answered by pushing the lead to 10 and went on to win the match at 30-16.

The Billikens are next in action this weekend as they host their Billiken Invitational. They play North Texas at noon on Fri., Sept. 17 and then face Valparaiso at 7 p.m. later that evening.