Sept. 6, 2009

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawai'i - The third time was the charm for the No. 19 Saint Louis volleyball team Saturday evening as it defeated No. 10 California 25-20, 25-20, 25-22 in its second match at the Hawaiian Airlines Classic in Honolulu, Hawai'i. It is the third time in the last seven days that the Billikens (3-2) have faced a team ranked among the American Volleyball Coaches Association's (AVCA) top 10. The victory also marks just the third time in program history that SLU has beaten a ranked opponent. The Golden Bears fell to 2-3 with the loss.

SLU's Bridget Fonke hit .464 with a team-high 14 kills and nine digs. Whitney Roth added a double-double of 36 assists and a team-best 10 digs to go with five kills, while Megan Boken collected 12 kills, eight digs and three blocks. Sammi McCloud chipped in eight kills, four digs and two blocks and Alyssa Deno recorded a team-high four blocks along with her six kills and two service aces. California was led by Hana Cutura, who contributed a match-high 17 kills on .342 hitting.

In the opening set, Fonke recorded back-to-back kills and Boken added a solo block to put SLU on top 3-0 before the Bears scored three straight points to tie the score. Another Fonke kill halted the rally but Cal responded with a three-point run to earn its first lead of the set at 6-4. Cal stayed in front by two to three points until a 4-0 Billiken run sparked by a McCloud kill and two aces from Deno allowed SLU to regain the advantage at 14-12. Two Saint Louis errors and a Mindi Wiley kill helped the Bears go on top 15-14. The teams traded points until consecutive kills from Boken and Fonke gave SLU the lead for good at 18-16. Two kills apiece from Fonke and Deno along with three California mistakes propelled SLU to the set-one win. Saint Louis out-hit the Bears .195 to .030 with Fonke and Boken pacing the Bills with six kills each and Cutura leading cal with seven kills.

Neither team managed to break free for a lead of more than two points until a little over mid-way through the second set. After 13 ties and seven lead changes, SLU used a kill from Fonke to knot the score at 17-17. The Billikens scored the next three points on a Cal hitting error, a Whitney Behrens service ace and a McCloud kill to capture the lead for good at 20-17. The Bears trimmed the margin to 20-19 on kills from Carli Lloyd and Tarah Murrey but that was as close as they would get as Saint Louis went on a 4-0 run to earn its first shot at set point. A Billiken service error gave Cal one last chance at a run but SLU got it done on the second attempt with a block from Deno and McCloud. Deno turned in a match-high four blocks in set two to go with her team-high tying three kills. Fonke also collected three kills as the Bills hit .200 with just three errors, while California committed 10 hitting errors for a .111 clip.

Both teams displayed their offensive prowess in the third set. SLU hit .487 with two offensive errors and Cal boasted a .459 clip with just one hitting mistake. After Cal went up 3-2 to start the final set, the Bills rallied for four consecutive points to reclaim the lead for good at 6-3. Cutura's kill briefly halted the rally before Saint Louis scored three more times on a kill and an ace from Boken as well as a McCloud kill to lead by five at 9-4. Four straight kills from California following a timeout cut the deficit to one at 9-8. However, SLU was able to maintain a slight edge allowing the Bears to get as close as one point just three times before extending its lead to as many as four. Cal would not go away quietly though, rapidly slicing Saint Louis' 21-17 advantage to 22-21 using two kills from Cutura, one from Correy Johnson and one from Murrey. A Boken kill put SLU on top by two before Cal's Shannon Hawari responded with a kill of her own to make it 23-22. Fonke and Deno closed the set with back-to-back kills to give the Bills the win. Cutura led all players with seven kills, while Boken paced SLU with six and Fonke and McCloud each added five.