Oct. 21, 2005

Final Stats

St. Louis - In their first home Atlantic 10 match, the Saint Louis Billikens posted a 3-2 victory over Fordham on Friday evening at Bauman-Eberhardt Center. Game scores were 27-30, 30-23, 30-23, 24-30, 15-8. Early in game five, senior setter Lauren Boissevain recorded the 2,000th assist of her career. She became the sixth SLU setter to reach that milestone.

The Billikens held the early lead for most of game one and were up 22-16 after two straight aces by Aida Antanaviciute before Fordham rallied. The Rams scored three straight. A Fordham service error halted the run, but the Rams forced a tie at 25-25. A block put the Rams on top and they went on to take the first game 30-27. The Rams hit .394 in the game.

Game two was squared at 11-11, before the Billikens tallied five straight. An Erin McClanahan served four more points. A Lauren Christman kill made it 22-14 and the Billikens cruised the rest of the way. The Billikens hit .324 in the game and held Fordham to just a .088 hitting percentage.

The Rams took the lead in game three and stretched the advantage to as much as 15-11. Two straight kills by Anatanaviciute ignited a quick Billiken run as the Bills drew to within two. SLU eventually tied the game at 19-19 on a Fordham hitting error and took its first lead on a solo block by Sutton Lasater. The Billikens tacked on three more points, capped by Lasater's kills for a 23-19 margin. At 28-23, two straight kills by Antanaviciute closed out the game.

The teams traded runs in game four before Fordham pulled away late. The Billikens jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but Fordham answered to go up 14-8. The Billikens still trailed 15-10 but scored four straight topped by Lasater's kill for 15-14. The Rams scored five straight and held on to force a decisive game five.

The fifth tilt was tied at 2-2 before Antanaviciute and Christman teammed for a block and a SLU lead. An attack error by Fordham gave the Billikens a two-point lead. Fordham forced a tie at 5-5, but a Christman kill started a 3-0 run. Menshikova had a kill, and a Fordham hitting error pushed the Billikens up 8-5. The Bills still led 9-7 and then scored four straight to take command. A Menshikova kill started the run, followed by a block by Lasater and Menshikova. A Fordham hitting error and an ace by Boissevain handed the Billikens command at 13-7. The Rams scored a point, but an Angela Powers kill pushed the Billikens to match point. On its next swing, Fordham hit the ball wide to end the match.

Lauren Boissevain had 56 assists and completed a double-double with 15 digs. Erin McClanahan dug a match-high 21 digs. For Fordham, Marija Markovic had 15 kills and eight blocks. Stephanie Frost had 14 digs. The Rams were tremendous on the defensive end and finished with 16.0 team blocks. The Billikens had 19 more kills than Fordham.

The Billikens improve to 11-12 overall, 4-4 in the A-10. The Rams dip to 16-10 overall, 3-5 in the league.