 A-10 Champions Wrap Up Regular Season in Tennessee
Nov. 25, 2008
This Week: After winning the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship on its home court last weekend, No. 22 Saint Louis heads to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to wrap up the regular season. The Billikens (26-4) take on Connecticut at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 28. SLU will face host Middle Tennessee State in the season finale at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Saint Louis will learn its NCAA Tournament First-Round opponent and destination when the selection show airs Sunday, Nov. 30, at 9 p.m. (CT) on ESPNU. Following the Action: Middle Tennessee State will provide live stats on its web site at www.goblueraiders.com. Navigate to the volleyball page and then click on Live Stats near the bottom of the page. Last Time Out: Top-seeded Saint Louis earned its second Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship crown on Sunday, Nov. 23, after sweeping Dayton 3-0 in the title match at Chaifetz Pavilion in St. Louis. The Billikens, who blanked Xavier and Dayton in the tournament, are the first team since the 2003 Dayton squad to sweep both of their matches en route to the title. The win, SLU's 18th straight, gave the Bills their second NCAA Tournament bid in program history and afforded head coach Anne Kordes her 100th career victory. Whitney Behrens, Bridget Fonke, Sammi McCloud and Whitney Roth were named to the All-Championship squad with Fonke taking home Most Outstanding Player honors. SLU also set a new standard for A-10 Championship hitting percentage, posting a .398 attacking percentage with 98 kills and only 16 errors on 206 swings.
About the Billikens: SLU, which earned the A-10 West regular-season title with a 13-0 mark in addition to capturing the A-10 Championship crown, has won 21 of its last 22 matches, including a program-best 18 straight. The Bills' only loss during that stretch was at top-ranked Penn State on Sept. 20. Sixteen of Saint Louis' 26 wins have been shutouts. Junior right-side hitter Sammi McCloud leads the team with 3.52 kills per set, while junior outside hitter Bridget Fonke trails with 3.49 kills per set. Meanwhile, junior setter Whitney Roth, SLU's career assists leader, runs a balanced offense with 11.29 assists per set. Junior middle blocker Sally Warning (1.02 blocks per set) provides the Billikens with a strong presence at the net, while junior libero Whitney Behrens (3.41 digs per set) is Saint Louis' top back-row defender. SLU's 26 victories are the most since it won 29 matches in 1995. Only six Billiken volleyball squads have finished with more wins. Saint Louis is enjoying its third straight 20-win campaign. About the Huskies: Connecticut (21-9) has dropped its last two matches after winning seven straight. The Huskies return four starters from last year's team that went 19-11 overall. Senior outside hitter Chauntay Mickens leads the squad with 3.07 kills per set, while rookie setter Annie Luhrsen guides the offense with 9.89 assists per set. UConn's top back-row defender is junior libero Jessica Isaac, who averages 3.94 digs per set, while sophomore middle hitter Rebecca Murray leads the Huskies at the net with 0.94 blocks per set. Head coach Holly Strauss-O'Brien is 74-44 in her fourth season in Storrs. Saint Louis leads the series 1-0 after defeating UConn 3-1 to win the Billiken Invitational on Sept. 8, 2007. About the Blue Raiders: Middle Tennessee State (25-6), which finished second in the Sun Belt Conference's East division, will take on UConn before hosting the Billikens on Saturday. The Blue Raiders return four starters from last year's NCAA Tournament squad that finished with a 35-3 mark. MTSU has a trio of players averaging more than 3.00 kills per set in junior outside hitter Ashley Mead (3.49), sophomore outside hitter Izabela Kozon (3.38) and senior middle blocker Ashley Asberry (3.26). Junior setter Leslie Clark directs the offense with 11.70 assists per set. The Blue Raiders' top defenders are junior libero Ashley Waugh (3.53 digs per set) and Asberry (1.42 blocks per set). Head coach Matt Peck is 87-35 in his fifth season at MTSU. His career record is 640-231 in 25 seasons. MTSU leads the all-time series 3-2, with the Billikens winning the last meeting 3-2 in Murfreesboro on Sept. 9, 2006. Right on Pace: If Saint Louis continues at its current rate, the Billikens will establish a new program standard for hitting percentage. SLU is hitting at a .265 clip this season, better than the current program standard of .255 set just last season. Junior Sally Warning leads the team with a .351 hitting percentage. A-10 Hardware: For the first time in league history, four players from the same team were awarded A-10 first team honors when Saint Louis' Bridget Fonke, Sammi McCloud, Whitney Roth and Sally Warning accomplished the feat on Nov. 20. Xavier is the only A-10 school to have four players earn All-Conference honors, however, that was before members were designated as first or second team. SLU also tied the league record for most members on the All-Championship squad. The Billikens' Whitney Behrens, Bridget Fonke, Sammi McCloud and Whitney Roth were recognized, giving a single team four honorees for the first time since the 2003 Dayton squad. Singled Out: On Nov. 20, Saint Louis nearly swept the individual A-10 end-of-the-season awards when Sammi McCloud was named Player of the Year, Whitney Roth earned Setter of the Year plaudits and Anne Kordes was selected Coach of the Year. McCloud, a two-time first-team honoree, went from A-10 Rookie of the Year in 2006 to the league's top honor this season. Roth, also a two-time first-team honoree, picked up her second straight Setter of the Year award. It was also the second time that Kordes was recognized after being named Coach of the Year in 2006. On the Home Front: Saint Louis completed its 2008 home slate with a 13-1 record. The Billikens protected their home court in Chaifetz Pavilion by posting an 11-0 mark in the facility. SLU's only defeat in the complex was a 3-1 loss to No. 19 Illinois in Chaifetz Arena on Sept. 5 in its home opener. Bills Earn RPI Ranking: Saint Louis is ranked No. 9 in the final NCAA Women's Volleyball RPI (Nov. 9) before the NCAA Championship. The RPI is based on the win percentage of SLU, its opponents and the teams SLU's opponents have played. Five of SLU's opponents are ranked in the top 14. The Billikens are the only A-10 school in the top 40. Polling Place: Armed with an 18-match winning streak, Saint Louis continues to maintain its position in the Bison/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll. This week, the Billikens earned a program-best 304 points for the No. 22 spot in the poll. The Bills have earned votes in every poll this season, ultimately breaking into the Top 25 for the first time in program history on Oct. 20 in the 25th spot. On the National Stage: The Billikens are ranked among the nation's top 25 in four statistical categories. SLU is ranked ninth in winning percentage (.867), 18th in kills per set (14.17), 20th in hitting percentage (.265) and 21st in assists per set (13.00). Individually, Whitney Roth is ranked 18th with 11.29 assists per set. Reaping the Rewards: SLU was awarded a league-high seven A-10 Player of the Week plaudits this season. Sammi McCloud earned the honor a league-leading four times (Sept. 8, Oct. 13, Nov. 10 and Nov. 17), while Whitney Roth (Sept. 22), Sally Warning (Sept. 29) and Bridget Fonke (Oct. 27) each picked up one accolade. Xavier trailed with four honorees, while McCloud was the only player to earn the honor more than twice. Schedule Strength: Five teams on SLU's 2008 schedule earned votes in this week's Top 25 poll. Reigning national champion Penn State (30-0) earned top billing, while Stanford (24-3) stayed at No. 2. Big Ten foes Illinois (22-7) and Purdue (22-8) came in at No. 15 and 18, respectively, while Utah (22-5) is No. 21. The Bills have faced four ranked teams thus far in 2008, the most they have ever played in a season. Saint Louis is 1-3 against ranked teams in 2008. All four of SLU's losses this season were against teams currently ranked among the Top 25. Conference Call: The Billikens are 40-12 all time (.769) in Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season matches, including a 22-4 mark at home. Dayton (three times) and Xavier are the only league members to claim wins on the Bills' home court since Saint Louis joined the league prior to the 2005 campaign. SLU has finished third or better each season it has been in the league. The Four Tops: Four Saint Louis juniors already rank among the program's top 10 in various statistical categories. Setter Whitney Roth is the program's career assists leader with 4,135 and counting, while libero Whitney Behrens ranks fourth with 1,298 career digs. Outside hitter Bridget Fonke is tied for ninth on the career chart with 107 service aces, while right-side hitter Sammi McCloud is ninth on the career kills list (1,042) and 10th in points (1229.0). Junior middle blocker Sally Warning is about to join that group as she is closing on the top 10 in career block assists, ranking 11th with 202. Roth Rolls: Junior Whitney Roth is the first player in program history to surpass 4,000 career assists. SLU's career assists leader (4,135) reached the milestone during the second week of November on the road at Dayton and Xavier. Her 2008 assists total (1,163) ranks 10th on the program's single-season list. Former Billiken Shelly Metzler ranks second on the career list with 3,284. Hey, You, Get Off of Mc-Cloud: With 18 kills at Dayton on Nov. 15, junior Sammi McCloud became the 10th member of SLU's 1,000-dig club. She is only the sixth Billiken to compile 1,000 kills prior to her fourth season. McCloud ranks No. 9 on Saint Louis' career kills chart with 1,042. Behr-ing Down: Junior libero Whitney Behrens ranks fourth on Saint Louis' career digs chart (1,298). She is only the third Billiken to eclipse 1,000 digs in fewer than three complete seasons. Leaders of the Pack: Like last season, juniors Whitney Roth and Bridget Fonke led the league in assists and service aces per set, respectively. Roth finished first in the A-10 with 11.22 assists per set, while Fonke led the league with 0.45 service aces per set. SLU led the conference with a .257 hitting percentage as well as 12.92 assists, 14.04 kills and 1.55 service aces per set, while holding opponents to a league-low .163 hitting percentage. In A-10 matches, Sally Warning boasted a league-high 1.13 blocks per set. In conference matches, the Billikens led the league with a .298 hitting percentage and 13.31 assists, 2.36 blocks, 14.40 kills and 1.51 service aces per set, all while holding their opponents to a league-low .130 hitting percentage. Head Coach Anne Kordes: Head coach Anne Kordes is in her fifth season at Saint Louis with a 100-53 (.654) career ledger. The 1998 Louisville graduate, who is enjoying her winningest campaign as a head coach, guided the 2008 Bills to the program's second A-10 West regular-season crown, its second A-10 Championship title and NCAA Tournament bid and the first unbeaten conference slate since 1997. In 2006, Kordes guided 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, the 2006 and 2008 A-10 Coach of the Year, is joined on the sideline by assistant coach Kyle Walton, volunteer assistant Corey Arbini and graduate assistant Lisa Orlet. More McLovin' for McCloud: After helping Saint Louis upset No. 3 Stanford in the final match of the Billiken Invitational, junior right-side hitter Sammi McCloud was recognized as the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week. She averaged a team-best 4.08 kills per set en route to her second straight All-Tournament accolade. McCloud is the third Billiken to be named AVCA National Player of the Week. Colleen Hunter earned the accolade on Oct. 16, 2000, and Stephanie Feulner was named National Player of the Week on Oct. 9, 1995. One for the Ages: When Saint Louis defeated No. 3 Stanford 3-1 in the final match of the Billiken Invitational on Sept. 6, it marked just the second time in program history that the Bills had defeated a ranked opponent. Saint Louis is 2-19 all-time against ranked teams. SLU's victory also marked the first time since Sept. 2, 2006, that the Cardinal lost to an opponent outside the top 10. The Billikens' win over No. 3 Stanford is the biggest victory by an A-10 team since former league member Penn State defeated top-ranked Pacific 3-2 on Sept. 22, 1984, in Kingston, R.I. Come One, Come All: An on-campus record 2,152 fans witnessed Saint Louis' 3-1 win over No. 3 Stanford on Sept. 6 at Chaifetz Arena. One night earlier, the third-largest crowd in program history (1,016) attended the Billikens' match against No. 19 Illinois. |
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