 Five Seniors to be Honored Prior to Billiken Blue Out vs. Xavier
Nov. 3, 2009
This Week: No. 21 Saint Louis continues its Atlantic 10 Conference schedule with a 6 p.m. (CT) match at Charlotte Friday, Nov. 6, followed by the "Billiken Blue Out" against Xavier Sunday at 1 p.m. at Chaifetz Pavilion. The Billikens (17-6, 10-1 A-10) will don blue jerseys on Sunday and fans are encouraged to wear blue as well. During Senior Day festivities prior to Sunday's match, SLU will honor Whitney Behrens, Bridget Fonke, Sammi McCloud, Whitney Roth and Sally Warning. For Tickets: Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Chaifetz Arena box office, by phone at (314) 977-4SLU or online at www.slubillikens.com. On match days, tickets will be available only at the entrance to Chaifetz Pavilion. Ticket prices are $7 for adults, $5 for youth. Groups of 20 or more receive discounted tickets for $3 apiece. Students with a valid SLU ID card receive free admission. All seating is general admission. Following the Action: SLU's home matches will be video streamed live through Billiken All-Access at www.slubillikens.com. Subscriptions are available for $79.95 annually or $9.95 a month. Gametracker for all home matches will also be available free of charge on Saint Louis' web site. Last Week: Saint Louis swept Duquesne on the road last Thursday before returning to Chaifetz Arena, where it swept Fordham approximately 24 hours later. The Billikens, who have posted sweeps in 15 matches this season, moved into a tie with Dayton atop the A-10 standings by virtue of the Flyers' loss at Xavier last weekend.
Seniors Leave Lasting Mark: SLU's five seniors have piloted the Billiken volleyball program to numerous milestones over the last four seasons. As freshmen in 2006, they led SLU to its first Atlantic 10 volleyball regular-season title, A-10 Championship crown and NCAA Tournament appearance. They helped christen Chaifetz Arena with a win over No. 3 Stanford on Sept. 6, 2008. That team went on to win A-10 regular-season and tournament titles en route to a second NCAA Tournament berth. SLU also went 13-0 in league play in 2008, earned the program's first national ranking, was awarded the 13th seed overall in the NCAA Tournament and won the program's first NCAA Tournament match. Additionally, the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association recognized the 2008 squad as the "All-Sports Trophy Champion", designating it as the top I-AAA women's volleyball program in the country during the 2008-09 academic year. In 2009, the squad has been in the AVCA Top 25 all season. About the Billikens: Saint Louis has won 13 of its last 14 matches. Senior right-side hitter Sammi McCloud leads the Bills and is tied for second in the A-10 with 3.59 kills per set, while senior outside hitter Bridget Fonke has a team-high 30 service aces in addition to 3.23 kills per set, the fifth most in the league. Senior setter Whitney Roth directs the offense with a league-best 11.01 assists per set and is second on the team with 2.75 digs per set. Sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Deno and McCloud are tied for the team lead with 44 blocks apiece. Five Billikens are averaging at least 2.35 digs per set, with senior libero Whitney Behrens leading the way with 3.14 digs per set. About the 49ers: Charlotte (15-12, 6-5 A-10), which SLU swept at Chaifetz Pavilion Oct. 11, has dropped five of its last seven matches heading into Friday's contest against the Billikens. Freshman outside hitter Jenna Litoborski, who did not play in the Oct. 11 tilt, paces the 49ers with 2.50 kills per set, while fellow rookie outside hitter Bianca Rouse adds 2.45 kills per set. Meanwhile, sophomore setter Sheri Davis dishes out a team-high 8.50 assists per set. Senior libero Kaitlin Knight leads the squad and ranks fifth in the A-10 with 3.88 digs per set in addition to contributing a league-best 0.45 service aces per set. Three 49ers add nearly 1.00 block per set apiece. Junior middle blocker Kara Raker paces the club with 0.94 blocks per set, while senior middle blocker Jennifer Webb and junior right-side hitter Kat Hicks each contribute 0.89 blocks per set as Charlotte leads all A-10 teams with 2.25 blocks per set. The 49ers also lead the league with 1.59 aces per set. Head coach Chris Redding is 42-42 in his third season at Charlotte, 86-121 in seven seasons overall. Saint Louis, which leads the series 14-7, has won all five meetings since both schools joined the A-10 in 2005. About the Musketeers: Xavier (16-10, 8-3 A-10), which the Billikens swept in Cincinnati Oct. 16, hosts Fordham Friday before traveling to St. Louis for Sunday's match. The Musketeers, who are holding league foes to an A-10-low .148 hitting percentage, have won their last three matches, including a 3-2 win against Dayton last week. A pair of seniors lead the XU offense, with outside hitter Kelly Ruth posting 2.61 kills per set and right-side hitter Hillary Otte chipping in 2.49 kills per set. Junior setter Claire Paszkiewicz collects a team-high 9.76 assists per set and is second on the team with 24 service aces, while junior outside hitter Shannon Voors paces the club with 25 service aces. Freshman libero Stephanie Vorherr, a three-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Week, ranks second in the league with 4.45 digs per set. Xavier's top defender at the net is sophomore middle blocker Michelle Matia, who compiles 0.89 blocks per set. Floyd Deaton is 407-244 in 20 seasons at the helm of the Musketeer program. SLU, which has won the last four meetings between the teams, leads the series 15-10. A-10 History: The Bills have been extremely successful in conference play since joining the A-10 in 2005. Saint Louis, which captured regular-season crowns in 2006 and 2008, owns a 50-13 (.794) conference ledger. Saint Louis' winning percentage is tops among current A-10 programs. Last season's 13-0 record marked the first time since 1997 that a team had finished the league slate unbeaten. Head Coach Anne Kordes: Head coach Anne Kordes is in her sixth season at Saint Louis with a 120-60 (.667) 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. Roth & Roll: Against Temple Oct. 25, senior Whitney Roth, two-time A-10 Setter of the Year, became just the fourth player from a current A-10 program to compile 5,000 career assists. Roth, whose 11.01 assists per set rank 29th in the NCAA, is the only setter in school history ranked among SLU's career top 20 in assists, service aces, digs and block assists. Early last season, she became the program's all-time assist leader and has nearly 2,000 more assists than the player in the No. 2 spot. She is 16th on the career digs list (914), tied for 16th on the career block assists chart (155) and tied for 20th with 78 career aces. She's a 10: Senior Sammi McCloud, the reigning A-10 Player of the Year, has worked her way into SLU's career top 10 in five statistical categories. She ranks sixth with 1,348 kills, ninth with 236 block assists and 257 total blocks, and 10th with 1,067 digs and 110 service aces. The only other players in Billiken history ranked among the top 10 in each of those five categories are Colleen Hunter (1999-2002) and Julie Tretten (1994-97). Additionally, McCloud is just the fifth player in program history who is a member of the 1,000-kills and 1,000-digs clubs. Can You Dig It?: Senior Whitney Behrens became the program's career digs leader at Fordham Sept. 26. SLU's digs standard is 1,570 and counting. Behrens eclipsed Irene Haugh's mark of 1,474 career digs, which had stood since 1990. Bridget's Breakthrough: Senior Bridget Fonke, a 2008 A-10 first-team selection and a two-time A-10 Offensive Player of the Week this season, became the 11th member of SLU's 1,000-kill club Sept. 19. On the Billikens' career charts, she is ninth with 1,149 kills, fifth with 140 service aces and 14th with 40 block solos. Fonke needs just six aces to move up to the No. 2 spot on the career aces list. 20-20 Vision: Seniors Sammi McCloud and Whitney Roth became members of SLU's 20-20 club at Dayton Oct. 17. McCloud posted a season-high 20 kills to go with a career-best 21 digs. Roth turned in a season-high 66 assists along with her career-best 26 digs. Senior Bridget Fonke is the only other current Billiken who has achieved the feat. In the 2008 NCAA Tournament vs. Michigan, Fonke collected 26 kills and a career-high 25 digs. Around the A-10: As of Nov. 1, Saint Louis ranks first among A-10 teams with a .273 hitting percentage, 13.89 kills per set and 12.52 assists per set. SLU's hitting percentage is 12th in the nation. The Bills are also third in the A-10 with 1.51 aces per set and have held their foes to the third-lowest hitting percentage (.184). Individually, four players rank among the top 10 in the league statistically. Whitney Roth leads the league with 11.01 assists per set, while Whitney Behrens is 10th with 0.26 service aces per set. Sammi McCloud is tied for second with 3.59 kills per set, third with 4.28 points per set, tied for fifth with a .313 hitting percentage and tied for sixth with 0.30 service aces per set. Bridget Fonke is third with 0.40 aces per set and fifth with 3.87 points and 3.23 kills per set. Conference Call: In A-10 matches, the Billikens are hitting at a league-high .317 rate with conference bests of 14.61 kills, 13.00 assists and 1.56 service aces per set. SLU is also holding its opponents to the second-lowest hitting rate in the league (.150). Three starters and libero Whitney Behrens rank among the top 10 in the A-10 statistically. Whitney Roth leads all players with 11.73 assists per set, while Behrens is tied for fourth with 0.36 aces per set. Sammi McCloud is second with 4.06 kills and 4.91 points per set, fourth with a .379 hitting percentage, sixth with 0.33 aces per set and seventh with 0.85 blocks per set. Bridget Fonke is second with 0.47 aces per set, fifth with 4.17 points and 3.47 kills per set and seventh with a .320 hitting percentage. 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 took on five teams ranked among the nation's top 15 in the first three weeks of the season. SLU faced top-ranked Penn State in the Active Ankle Challenge during the season-opening weekend. At the Hawaiian Airlines Classic Sept. 3-6, the Bills battled No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Hawai'i and No. 10 California. Saint Louis played No. 14 Illinois Sept. 12 in the State Farm Classic. All five of those teams are among the Top 20 in the latest NCAA RPI report released Nov. 2. SLU is No. 32 on that list, while A-10 foe Dayton is listed at No. 28. 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. |
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