Oct. 25, 2009

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis struggled early against Temple, but eventually pulled things together for a 23-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-17 Atlantic 10 Conference victory at Chaifetz Pavilion Sunday afternoon. Whitney Roth, who dished out 49 assists, surpasses 5,000 career assists during the match to become only the fourth player among the current A-10 programs to reach that career milestone.

The Billikens (15-6, 8-1 A-10) were up 7-5 in set one before racing out to a six-point lead. A Bridget Fonke kill started the rally and was followed by a Temple hitting error. Then Lydia Blaha and Fonke posted back-to-back kills for the 11-5 lead. SLU maintained a lead of five to six points when it put together four straight points to extend the lead to 17-8. Megan Boken had two kills during the spurt and contributed to a block with Sammi McCloud before Alyssa Deno served an ace to end the run. The Owls (10-8, 6-3 A-10) got back-to-back kills from Jessica Antosz and Yun Yi Zhang and the pair teamed for a block as they began to chip away at Saint Louis' advantage. A solo block from McCloud preceded another Antosz kill and two from Zhang that brought the score to 18-14. McCloud's kill briefly halted the TU rally, but Zhang responded with three straight kills to make it 19-17. The teams traded points until the Owls knotted the score at 22-22 on a kill from Cayleigh Ashman, which was followed by a SLU hitting error. An Antosz kill gave Temple its first lead, and she then put up a solo block to give TU set point. Boken's kill helped SLU stave off the Owls first attempt, but a Billiken serving error gave Temple the one set lead. TU out-hit the Bills .268 to .190 as Zhang led all players with eight kills.

Saint Louis came out clicking on all cylinders in set two en route to a 6-0 lead. Fonke served a pair of aces to ignite the Bills and Deno added a kill during the stretch that included three Temple errors. Ashman recorded back-to-back kills to end the spurt; however, SLU scored the next three points on two kills from Boken and one from Deno to make it 9-2. Ashman again responded with consecutive kills before McCloud sparked the Billikens with three straight kills followed by one from Boken for the 13-4 score. Temple continued to try to cut into the lead, getting as close as 16-10 on kills from Jovana Radojevic and Zhang. But SLU pushed onward with kills from Sally Warning, McCloud and Boken to earn the 25-15 victory. Saint Louis hit at a .485 clip to the Owls' .290 percentage and McCloud led all players with seven kills.

Zhang propelled Temple to an early lead in the third set. However, the Billikens got kills from Deno and McCloud to tie things up at 4-4. After that, the teams tied eight times before Saint Louis went up 14-12 on a solo block and a kill from Fonke. After maintaining a two-point edge, SLU scored four straight times on back-to-back Temple hitting errors, a block from Warning, Boken and Deno and a Fonke service ace to expand its lead to 20-15. The Owls scored back-to-back points on a kill and a block from Jasmine Waters to close the gap to 22-19. McCloud responded with a kill before teaming with Roth for a block to give SLU its first shot at set point. A Temple hitting error gave Saint Louis, which hit .310 in the set, the one-set lead. Deno and Zhang tied for set-high honors with five kills apiece.

The teams swapped points to start the fourth set before SLU broke the stalemate with a 5-1 run. Fonke and Warning each posted kills during the stretch and Roth's service ace combined with two Temple errors put the Bills on top 9-5. Saint Louis steadily increased its lead, scoring two points for every one Owl score until it was 16-10. Temple mounted a 4-1 run that cut the margin to 17-14. Deno answered with consecutive kills, which were followed by a Fonke ace, to make it 20-14. The Owls blocked the Billikens' next two attempts to make it a four-point game. However, Saint Louis scored five of the final six points, including the last four, to capture the match win. Fonke led the set with five kills as both teams struggled offensively. SLU hit at a .189 rate and Temple hit .094.

McCloud completed a double-double with a team-high 14 kills and 13 digs, and added a Billiken season-high six blocks. Boken finished with a season-best 13 kills and narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs. Fonke also achieve double-digit kills with 12 to go with her seven digs and four service aces. Whitney Behrens paced SLU with 14 digs.