Sept. 4, 2007

Box Score

NORMAL, Ill. - Saint Louis suffered through its poorest hitting performance of the season in a three-game loss (24-30, 28-30, 25-30) at Illinois State. The Billikens drop to 5-2, while the Redbirds improved to 6-2.

"They executed a great game plan against us. Any time we're giving away half the points on service errors it's going to be hard to stay in the game," SLU head coach Anne Kordes said. "We had great athletes getting shut down out there and I've got to give Illinois State credit."

Illinois State ran out to a 14-5 lead in game one as the Billikens hit at a negative percentage while the Redbirds hit .462 by the first timeout. SLU then went on a run of its own due in large part to ISU's inability to put the ball down. Bridget Fonke (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's) came alive late with five kills but the match was already out of reach as ISU claimed a 30-24 victory.

Again it was Fonke, hitting from both the front and back row, keeping things close with another nine kills in game two. However, Saint Louis hitting and service errors proved costly in the end as it fell 30-28.

SLU fell 4-0 behind early in game three before getting on the scoreboard on a Redbird service error. The Bills were never able to catch up as ISU led by as many as 12 points en route to a game three victory.

Fonke tallied double-digit kills for her seventh-straight match, leading the Bills with 18 kills. Lauren Christman (Oak Brook, Ill./Hinsdale Central) trailed with nine.

Earlier in the day, Fonke earned her second consecutive Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honor after being named to the Radisson Hotel Invitational in Peoria, Ill. last weekend. In the tournament opener against Bradley, she tallied a career-high 12 digs. The sophomore outside hitter established new career highs with 28 kills and 69 attempts in SLU's five-game win over Montana. Fonke then recorded a career-best six service aces against Western Illinois. She averaged 5.82 kills per match while hitting at a .326 clip.

The Billikens open their home slate on Friday at 7 p.m. against Southeast Missouri State in the SLU's Santo Bento Volleyball Invitational at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center.