Oct. 8, 2006

Final Stats

Bronx, N.Y. - Behind 21 kills by senior Angela Powers, the Saint Louis volleyball team posted a 3-1 win at Fordham on Sunday afternoon. The Billikens won 27-30, 30-22, 30-24, 30-27. With the victory, the Billikens improved to 6-0 in the Atlantic 10, the best conference start in school history, surpassing the 5-0 start by the 1988 team in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. The Billikens are 13-6 overall and have won four straight matches, including eight of their last nine. Fordham falls to 14-9, 1-3 in the A-10.

"I am so proud of Angela Powers' leadership," head coach Anne Kordes said. "She has been tremendous for us and has become an offensive force on the outside. Her play has opened up the middles, and the team is feeding off her play. It is fun and exciting to be 6-0, and the good start puts us in position to do some great things down the road. However, we still have a lot of areas for improvement to get us where we want to go."

In game one, the Fordham service game gave the Billikens trouble as the Rams were able to string together points. The Billikens stayed within striking distance, but the Rams held on to take the first tilt.

Fordham led the Billikens 14-11 in game before the Billikens scored three straight to tie the game. Powers started the run with a kill, and Taytana Menshikova followed. A setting error by the Rams tied the game at 14-14. The game was tied at 17-17, but a Whitney Roth ace gave the Billikens an 18-17 lead. Sammi McCloud notched a kill to push the SLU margin to two at 19-17. The Billikens were up 19-18 before surging ahead with four straight points. Menshikova began the run with a kill, and kills by Powers and Lauren Christman followed. The Bills used another 4-0 run late, and a Powers kill ended the game.

The Rams led in the early going of game three, but the Billikens forged a tie at 16-16. Two straight hitting errors by Fordham pushed the Billikens into the lead. SLU held onto its narrow lead at 26-24 before closing the game out with the last four points. Fordham had a hitting error before the Billikens notched three straight kills.

Game four was tied at 20-20 until the Billikens took the lead for good at 21-20 on a Fordham hitting error. A Menshikova kill gave the Billikens a two-point lead. SLU was up 24-23, and Fordham hurt itself with two straight errors for a 26-23 Billiken advantage. The Billikens reached match point at 29-25 but the Rams closed with two points in a row. However, Roth tipped the ball down to end the match at 30-27.

Whitney Roth also posted a double-double with 50 assists and a career-high 15 digs. Whitney Behrens topped the Billikens with 17 digs. Tasha Johnson led Fordham with 19 kills and 11 digs, while Stephanie Frost dug 17 balls.