Nov. 8, 2009

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis enjoyed a successful Senior Day at Chaifetz Pavilion as it swept Atlantic 10 Conference rival Xavier (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) for the second time this season on Sunday. The Billikens (19-6, 12-1 A-10), who outhit the Musketeers .344 to .125, remain tied atop the A-10 standings, while the Musketeers fall to 17-11 overall, 9-4 in league play.

Bridget Fonke led all players with 11 kills and four service aces and added eight digs. Her four aces moved her into a tie for third on SLU's career aces list (144). Whitney Roth dished out 34 assists and tallied seven digs, while Casey Chernin collected seven kills, and Megan Boken posted a team-high nine digs to go with four kills and two aces.

The teams traded points in the opening set before a Fonke ace and two kills from Deno put SLU in front 5-2. The Musketeers got as close as two points before the Billikens erupted for four consecutive points, including two Sammi McCloud kills, an ace from Boken and a kill from Fonke, to make it 11-5. XU scored three of the next four points prior to back-to-back kills from Fonke and Deno making it 14-8. Saint Louis was up 17-12 when it mounted a 5-0 run. The spurt that brought the score to 22-12 included three Musketeer hitting errors and kills from Roth and Fonke. Sally Warning and Fonke posted kills to give SLU its first chance at set point, but Xavier fought off four Billiken set points before Deno's kill her team the win. Fonke powered SLU's offense, which hit .424 in set one, with five kills, while Deno added four. Meanwhile, the Musketeers hit .143.

Xavier raced out to a 4-1 advantage in the second set after the Bills committed a pair of hitting errors and Kelly Ruth notched two kills and a block. Saint Louis was trailing 6-3 when kills from Roth and Fonke combined with a Musketeer hitting error tied the score at 6-6. XU scored four of the next six points to claim a 10-8 edge. The Billikens rallied for three straight points on a Deno-Fonke block, another Xavier hitting error and a Chernin kill to regain the 11-10 lead. The teams endured five more ties before a McCloud service ace and another Musketeer mistake put Saint Louis ahead for good at 18-16. Alex Smith's kill sliced the lead to one, but Fonke terminated, Roth served an ace and Chernin put down a kill to push the lead back out to 21-17. Following a SLU service error, Fonke tallied a kill and served an ace to make it 23-18. Ruth's kill kept her team alive but the Bills managed to score the final two points on a Deno kill and another XU hitting error to take the two-set lead.

The Musketeers scored the initial point of the final set but that would be the only lead they would hold in set three. A pair of Xavier errors and a service ace from Fonke put the Billikens on top 3-1. XU cut the deficit to one at 4-3 and that was as close as the Musketeers would get for the rest of the match as Saint Louis answered with a three-point burst sparked by a kill from Chernin and ending with a Whitney Behrens service ace. SLU scored two points to Xavier's single point building a lead of 11-5. Then Ruth ignited a 3-0 Musketeer run with a kill, followed by a Billiken hitting error and Ruth-Michelle Matia block to cut it to 11-8. Kills from Fonke and Chernin kicked off a 5-1 run that finished with two kills from Deno and another ace from Fonke to put SLU in control 16-9. Saint Louis got kills from six different players to complete the set, while Xavier was unable to score back-to-back points the rest of the way. The Bills hit at a .393 clip to the Musketeers' .048 rate in the final set.