Sept. 8, 2007

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - The return of Sammi McCloud to the lineup and a strong hitting effort by Bridget Fonke helped propel the Saint Louis volleyball team to a 30-25, 30-20, 28-30, 37-35 victory over Connecticut in the final match of the Santo Bento Volleyball Invitational. Libero Whitney Behrens earned tournament MVP accolades, while Fonke and Sutton Lasater were each named to the All-Tournament team. SLU improves to 8-2, while the Huskies, who suffered their first loss of the season, fall to 7-1.

The Huskies led from the start of game one but SLU chipped away at the lead using kills from Lauren Christman and Sally Warning to tie things up at 11-11. Fonke put the Billikens out in front with a service ace before McCloud, in her first real action since the LSU match on Aug. 25, put a ball down to give Saint Louis a 13-11 edge. SLU continued to build the lead but UConn used effective blocking for three straight points to remain in the game. However, McCloud ended any threat and the game with one of her game-high tying four kills for the 30-25 victory.

Saint Louis led briefly at the beginning of game two but once again UConn came up with the lead early and held onto it until the Bills went ahead 7-6 on an Emily Galbraith kill from the back row. Both teams traded points until SLU again pulled ahead 10-9 on an unlikely kill from libero Behrens. Megan Boken then served eight straight points to put the Billikens up 23-14 and put the game out of reach as SLU won 30-20. SLU hit .317 in the game while holding the Huskies to a .029 clip.

Both teams traded points until SLU gained a slight advantage at 12-10 on a Christman kills and a block by she and McCloud. The Billikens continued to build their lead with the Huskies making minor comebacks along the way. UConn eventually pulled ahead 27-26 with a pair of points on a kill and a block, respectively. The Huskies then completed their comeback mission with a 30-28 victory to force game four.

SLU fell behind early in game four and could never quite catch up. McCloud tried to help out the Bills' cause when she recorded back-to-back kills and contributed to a block to cut it to 10-9. However, a miscommunication between two SLU players gave the Huskies a point. UConn then built some momentum, eventually running out to their largest lead of the game at 23-16. The Billikens chipped away at the lead, knotting the score at 27-27. The teams played seven game points before SLU succeeded on the eighth for the game and match victory despite being out-hit .484 to .346.

Fonke led the Billikens' hitting attack with 23 kills and a .408 hitting percentage, while McCloud had 17 kills and Lasater 14. Sade Chambers led the Huskies with 13. Meanwhile, setter Whitney Roth recorded a double-double with 59 assists and 14 digs.

Earlier in the day, UConn defeated Southeast Missouri State 3-1 while IUPUI also defeated SEMO 3-1. IUPUI finished the tournament with a 1-2 record while SEMO went 0-3. The All-Tournament team also consisted of IUPUI's Chelsea Bastin and the Huskies' Jessica Isaac and Lauren Lamberti.