 Three Ranked Foes Await Billikens at Hawaiian Airlines Classic
Sept. 1, 2009
This Week: Saint Louis will face one of its toughest stretches of the season this weekend, taking on three teams ranked among the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) top 10 at the Hawaiian Airlines Classic in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The Billikens begin the tournament against No. 4 Hawai'i at midnight (CT) Friday, Sept. 4. SLU returns to the court Saturday at 10 p.m. (CT) to face No. 10 California before closing out the tournament against No. 2 Texas Sunday at 8 p.m. (CT). About the Billikens: No. 19 Saint Louis (2-1) will be looking to get back into the win column this weekend after suffering a 3-0 loss to top-ranked Penn State in the final match of the Active Ankle Challenge at Chaifetz Arena last weekend. A program-record 6,106 fans witnessed the match. It was also the third-largest crowd in the country to witness a volleyball match so far this season. The Bills opened the tournament with wins over Alabama and Miami (Ohio). Junior outside hitter Megan Boken leads the squad with 3.00 kills per set, while senior right-side hitter Sammi McCloud follows with 2.80 kills per set and leads SLU with six service aces and 3.30 digs per set. Senior setter Whitney Roth directs the offense with a team-high 9.90 assists per set. Sophomore middle blockers Lydia Blaha and Alyssa Deno pace the team with seven blocks apiece. Polling Place: The Billikens have achieved the program's highest ranking just one week into the 2009 campaign. Saint Louis is ranked No. 19 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top 25 Poll with 375 points. Last week, SLU entered the season with a national ranking for the first time in program history. The Bills came in at No. 20 in the AVCA Preseason Poll with 354 points. Meanwhile, Volleyball Magazine put Saint Louis at No. 17 in its Preseason Top 20 Poll.
About the Rainbow Wahine: No. 4 Hawai'i (3-0) captured the crown at the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational last weekend. UH swept Western Michigan and No. 9 UCLA and beat No. 25 Santa Clara 3-1 to win its own tournament. Sophomore outside hitter Kanani Danielson paced the offense with 5.40 kills per set, while junior setter Dani Mafua dished out a team-best 13.00 assists per set. Senior right-side hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru contributed a team-high 12 service aces and was the Rainbow Wahine's top defender in the back row with 3.50 digs per set. Redshirt freshman middle blocker Brittany Hewitt led the squad with 2.00 blocks per set. Head coach Dave Shoji is 987-173-1 in 35 seasons at Hawai'i. This is the first meeting between SLU and Hawai'i. About the Golden Bears: No. 10 California (2-1) fell to UC Irvine 3-2 in its season opener at the Nevada Marriott Courtyard/Fairfield Invitational last weekend. However, the Golden Bears battled back to defeat Saint Mary's College and Connecticut to close the tournament on a winning note. Senior outside hitter Hana Cutura led the offense with 4.67 kills per set, and Carli Lloyd dished out a team-high 11.33 assists per set. Cal had four players finish the tournament with at least 2.00 digs per set with Lloyd leading the way with 2.33. A trio of players - Lloyd, sophomore middle blocker Shannon Hawari and senior middle blocker Mindi Wiley - averaged better than one block per set for the Bears. Rich Feller is 193-116 in his 11th season at Cal, 492-283 in 25 seasons overall. This is the first meeting between SLU and California. About the Longhorns: No. 2 Texas (2-0) defeated No. 23 Long Beach State and No. 15 San Diego at the season-opening Long Beach State Tournament last weekend. Senior outside hitter Destinee Hooker posted a team-high 5.38 kills in the tournament and junior outside hitter Juliann Faucette added 3.50 kills per set. Senior right-side hitter/setter Ashley Engle collected a team-high 8.25 assists per set, while senior libero Heather Kisner is UT's top back-row defender with 5.38 digs per set. Four Longhorns chipped in at least one block per set last weekend. Head coach Jerritt Elliott owns a 187-62 record in nine seasons at Texas. His 11-year career mark is 237-74. This is the first meeting between SLU and Texas. Head Coach Anne Kordes: Head coach Anne Kordes is in her sixth season at Saint Louis with a 105-55 (.656) career ledger. The 1998 Louisville graduate enjoyed her winningest campaign as a head coach in 2008 when she guided the Bills to their second A-10 West regular-season crown, their second A-10 Championship title and NCAA Tournament bid, and the first unbeaten conference slate since 1997. Kordes earned CVU.com (Collegiate Volleyball Update) National Coach of the Year honors and was named AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year last season. In 2006, she led SLU to its first NCAA Volleyball Tournament appearance after her squad captured its first A-10 Championship crown and tied for the A-10 West regular-season title. Kordes is only the second coach in program history to earn more than 100 victories at SLU. The 2006 and 2008 A-10 Coach of the Year is joined on the sideline by assistant coaches Kyle Walton and Angela Powers, volunteer assistant Corey Arbini and director of volleyball operations Andy Halaz. On Her Way to the Top (10): Senior Sammi McCloud is quickly working her way into SLU's career top 10 in five statistical categories. She is already No. 9 with 1,128 career kills and is No. 12 on the digs (927) and block assists (203) lists. McCloud ranks No. 14 in career service aces (95) and total blocks (217). The only players in Billiken history ranked among the top 10 in each of those categories are Colleen Hunter (1999-2002) and Julie Tretten (1994-97). A-10 Leaders: Following the first weekend of volleyball action, SLU senior Sammi McCloud paces the Atlantic 10 with 0.60 service aces per set. Senior Whitney Roth is the only other Billiken ranked among the top five in an A-10 statistical category. She is third with 9.90 assists per set. Can You Dig It: Senior Whitney Behrens needs just 106 digs to become the program's career leader. She is third with 1,369 digs. Irene Haugh (1987-90) holds the record with 1,474 career digs. Deno's Debut: Though it wasn't her first match in a Billiken uniform, sophomore Alyssa Deno had a coming-out party of sorts in Saint Louis' season opener against Alabama. Normally an outside hitter, Deno moved to the middle-blocker position to fulfill a need for the Bills. The sophomore was impressive in her first career start, hitting at a team-high .312 clip with eight kills in the first front-row action of her career. A Formidable Foe: After playing one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2008, Saint Louis is at it again in 2009. The Billikens will face five teams ranked among the AVCA Preseason Top 10 in the first two weeks of the season. SLU faced top-ranked Penn State in the Active Ankle Challenge during the season-opening weekend. This week the squad travels to Honolulu, Hawai'i, Sept. 4-6 for the Hawaiian Airlines Classic where the Bills will face No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Hawai'i and No. 10 California. Saint Louis will play No. 8 Illinois in the final match of the State Farm Classic in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 12. On the Go with Gaillot: Sophomore defensive specialist Ashley Gaillot will keep a blog this season called "On the Go with Gaillot" at www.slubillikens.com. Her blog will provide fans with a weekly behind-the-scenes look at the 2009 Billiken volleyball team. Green Billikens: Four players join the 11 returning Billikens on the court this season. Sophomore middle blocker Lydia Blaha (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Boise State) joined the squad in the spring after playing on the Bronco volleyball team during her freshman season. SLU's freshmen this season are defensive specialist Andrea Bolt (Smithton, Ill. / Freeburg) and middle blockers Carly Marcum (Belleville, Ill. / Althoff Catholic) and Carly Schumacher (Clinton, Ill. / University). 2008 in Rewind: SLU went 29-5 overall, 13-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference last season. The 2008 Bills captured A-10 regular-season and tournament titles and made their second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three seasons. SLU, which reeled off a program-best 21 straight wins, earned the program's first national ranking midway through the 2008 campaign and was awarded the 13th seed overall in the NCAA Tournament. The Billikens shut out Alabama A&M in the first round to seize their first tournament victory. Their historic season came to an end in the second round when the Bills fell to Michigan 3-2. Four Billikens earned AVCA All-America accolades in 2008. |
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