Oct. 9, 2009

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis hit .451 en route to sweeping Atlantic 10 Conference foe George Washington 25-19, 25-18, 25-17 at Chaifetz Pavilion Friday evening. Early in set two, Sammi McCloud joined the 1,000-dig club and became just the fifth SLU player to compile more than 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career.

Set one was tied at 2-2 before the Billikens reeled off six of the next seven points. GW had a service error, and McCloud followed with a kill. After a Colonial kill, the Billikens scored four straight capped by another McCloud kill and an 8-3 advantage. The Billikens led 12-8 and scored two in a row on a Megan Boken kill and a GW error. The Colonials notched a kill, but McCloud and Bridget Fonke recorded two kills for a 16-9 SLU lead. GWU scored two straight, but the Billikens took charge with a 4-1 run. Fonke and McCloud had consecutive kills, and after a GW point, Whitney Roth and Lydia Blaha notched back-to-back kills for a 20-12 SLU lead. The Billikens closed out the set 25-19 on a Roth tip into the middle of the GW defense. The Billikens hit .417 in the opening set with 17 kills and just four errors.

Set two was close throughout as neither team led by more than two points. The Billikens edged to a 6-4 lead on a Fonke kill and Fonke/Blaha block combination. GW inched back and eventually tied the set at 10-10. Boken terminated, and McCloud and Roth teamed on a block for a 12-10 Billiken lead. Leading 14-13, the Billikens took charge with a five unanswered points. Two straight kills by Alyssa Deno forced a GWU timeout. Boken pounded down a ball, and two GW errors pushed the Billiken advantage to 19-13. The Colonials edged to 21-16. SLU answered with three straight kills and closed out the set 25-18. The Billikens hit a blazing .500 in the set, while holding the Colonials to just a .176 mark.

The Colonials led set three 2-1 but the Billikens charged ahead with three straight points. After a GW service error, Boken and Fonke recorded consecutive kills. The SLU lead stood at 6-5, but Fonke hammered down a kill from the back row, and McCloud served up an ace and an 8-5 lead. The Colonials called timeout to try and stem the rising Billiken tide, but Fonke had two kills and McCloud another to stretch the SLU lead to 11-5. The Billikens were up 13-6 before the Colonials scored three straight. However, the Billikens answered with their own 3-0 run and took a 16-9 advantage. The Billikens took control with another 3-0 outburst and closed out their seventh straight victory via a sweep to snap GW's four-match winning streak.

Fonke led the Billikens with 13 kills and completed a double-double with a team-high 11 digs. McCloud added 11 kills while hitting .526, and Boken recorded 10 kills and finished with a .429 hitting percentage. Roth terminated on each of her hitting attempts for a season-high six kills and added 43 assists and eight digs. Katie Butz led the Colonials with 10 kills, while Candace Silva-Martin led GW with 11 digs.

The Billikens improve to 11-5, 4-0 in the A-10. The Colonials are now 13-6, 3-2. SLU returns to action Sunday, Oct. 11, when it hosts Charlotte at 1 p.m.