Nov. 16, 2007

Box Score

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Saint Louis moved one step closer to a second-straight Atlantic 10 Championship crown with a 30-21, 30-23, 30-20 victory over sixth-seeded George Washington in the opening match of the 2007 A-10 Volleyball Championship at Halton Arena in Charlotte, N.C. on Friday afternoon. The third-seeded Billikens (23-6) will take on second-seeded Xavier tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. (CT) for a chance to compete in the title match on Sunday.

"I am super happy with the execution of our team today," SLU head coach Anne Kordes said. "We did an incredible job passing and serving, and our ball control really allowed our offense to shine. With four players in double-digit kills and a season-high in digs for (Whitney) Behrens, it made us hard to stop. The goal all year has been to diversify our offense and (Whitney) Roth did a great job of distributing the ball today."

The Colonials (13-17) scored first in game one but the Billikens scored the next seven points to run out to a 7-1 lead. Lauren Christman had two kills for SLU while the Bills also took advantage of a pair of GW errors. George Washington tried to chip away at Saint Louis' lead, pulling within three points, before the Billikens pushed their advantage out to 10 points at 20-10 courtesy of three GW miscues. The Colonials put up four blocks to the Bills' one but SLU hit at a slightly better clip (.133) than the Colonials (.105). GW's Liz Moult posted a game-high five kills while four Billikens had three kills apiece.

Saint Louis led early in game two but never by more than two points. The Colonials evened things up at 5-5 before going out in front and maintaining the edge until the Billikens knotted the score at 11-11 on a Christman kill and took the 12-11 lead for good on a Bridget Fonke kill. George Washington pulled even at 12-12 and threatened later in the game but SLU's offensive weapons led by Sally Warning's game-high five kills helped the Bills put the game away. Again the Colonials out-blocked the Bills (3-1) but SLU hit .333 to GW's .257 for the victory.

SLU tallied three blocks early in game three, more than it had all match to that point, to stake itself to an early 8-5 edge. George Washington got as close as one point on six occasions but the Billikens held the Colonials at bay each time. Saint Louis registered five blocks while GW had none in the final game. The Bills also hit a match-best .405 in game three as Sutton Lasater, Sammi McCloud and Christman each turned in five kills.

McCloud and Christman tied for match-high honors with 12 kills apiece while Fonke and Lasater each had 10. Setter Whitney Roth recorded 46 assists in the win while Whitney Behrens had a season-best 24 digs. Janine Brown was the only GW player in double-figure kills with 10.

The win, which helped the Bills improve to 7-0 on neutral courts in 2007, also helped SLU surpass its win total of 22 from a year ago. The 23 wins are also a career-best for Kordes.