Nov. 10, 2009

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. - Bridget Fonke hit .484 with a match-high 17 kills to lead No. 20 Saint Louis to a 25-17, 25-16, 25-22 nonconference victory over Creighton in Omaha, Neb. Tuesday evening. The Billikens (20-6) picked up their seventh straight victory and have now won at least 20 matches for the fourth straight season. It is only the second time in program history that SLU has won 20 matches in four consecutive campaigns. The last stretch of 20-win seasons was from 1987-90.

Fonke also collected six digs and two services aces. The two aces move her into a tied for second place on the Billikens' career service aces chart with 146. Megan Boken narrowly missed a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs, while Whitney Roth almost recorded a double-double of her own with 39 assists, nine digs and four kills. Sammi McCloud notched 10 digs, seven kills and two blocks. McCloud is now eighth on SLU's career digs list with 1,088.

The Billikens trailed by no more than a single point in the opening set as they rolled to a 25-17 victory. SLU was down 7-6, but then scored three straight points on a kill and an ace from Roth and a kill from Deno. The teams tied at points 10-12 before kills from Boken and Fonke combined with a pair of Bluejay hitting errors to give the Bills the 16-12 edge. The teams traded points until Fonke tallied three kills during a 4-0 burst that put Saint Louis on top 22-15. Creighton's Allie Oelke terminated to halt the rally. However, Fonke posted another kill and a bad set by the Bluejays gave the Billikens set point. The first attempt was denied, courtesy of an Oelke-Laurel Sanford block. But Casey Chernin connected for a kill to help Saint Louis capture the win after outhitting CU .282 to .114. Fonke had a set-high seven kills while hitting at a .545 clip in set one.

Just like in set one, SLU managed to pick up the set-two victory fairly easily as it never trailed by more than a point with Creighton's last lead being at 3-2. A McCloud kill knotted the score at 3-3 before a Bluejay ball-handling error and a McCloud-Roth block put the Billikens on top for good. A Jessica Houts kill brought CU within one at 5-4, but that was as close as CU would get the rest of the set as Saint Louis cruised to the win. Fonke hit .500 and was the kills leader for the second straight set with six. Roth notched 12 assists as she set SLU to a .263 hitting percentage, while Creighton only hit at a .100 rate.

Saint Louis put the first five points on the board in the third set. Chernin kicked off the rally with a kill that was followed by two from Boken, a Creighton hitting error and a Deno kill. The Bluejays gradually made their way back despite only being able to collected back-to-back points on three occasions. Each time CU scored consecutive points it narrowed the gap to three points, the final time being at 11-8. Saint Louis' points came in a variety of ways as it scored eight of the next 11 points to claim its largest lead at 19-11. A kill from Roth kicked off the rally, but was followed by a serving error. Then Fonke and Chernin registered back-to-back kills prior to a SLU hitting error. Boken and McCloud book ended a kill from Houts to make it 16-11. Then Whitney Behrens served an ace and the Bluejays commited another error to put SLU ahead by eight. Creighton did not just roll over though. The `Jays pressed on, scoring eight of the next 12 points to cut the deficit to 22-19. Six of CU's points during that run were due to Billiken mistakes. A kill from Fonke and a Bluejay hitting error gave Saint Louis the 24-19 lead. A Billiken serving error and two huge blocks by Creighton turned away SLU's first three attempts to end the match before Deno put down a kill to end the threat and the match. The Bluejays posted 5.5 blocks in the final set but only got multiple kills from one player (three from Houts) en route to the loss.