SLU volleyball is looking unstoppable this year.
The Billikens kicked off their Atlantic 10 Conference season last weekend with a pair of wins: a decisive sweep of La Salle and a five-set win over defending champion Duquesne. Both wins bring SLU’s overall season record to 12-4. They have lost only one game since August.
The Billikens gave a strong performance last Friday in Philadelphia. Though La Salle got ahead early in the first set, leading 8-5 at one point, Saint Louis quickly shut the Explorers down for a 25-11 victory.
La Salle trailed for the entire second set, which ended 25-17 in favor of SLU. And in the final set, the Bills held their opponents to a .000 attack percentage and beat them easily, 25-15. Overall, SLU held La Salle to a .104 attack percentage while hitting .305 themselves.
On Sunday, Saint Louis took on Duquesne in their hometown of Pittsburgh. Duquesne was crowned the Atlantic 10 Champion last year, with a conference record of 12-2, and was selected as the preseason favorite to defend their title. The Dukes swept SLU 3-0 in their last encounter. This time, however, the Billikens held their own against their A-10 opponent.
The match was a hard fought contest, ending in a 3-2 victory for the Billikens. Despite a strong showing in the opening set, SLU fell to their opponents 23-25. The Billikens rallied and took the second set handily, 25-11, with an attack percentage of .522. Defensively, they held Duquesne to a .000 attack percentage for the set. In the third, SLU and Duquesne traded points until a 10-10 tie. At this point, however, the Billikens went on a 15-3 run, taking the match 25-13 with an impressive .567 attack percentage.
A Saint Louis victory was thrown into jeopardy when they dropped the fourth set, 22-25. However, the Billikens managed to halt the Explorers’ comeback by triumphing in the final set, 15-10. In this deciding frame, the Billikens held their opponents to -.050 attack percentage, while hitting .412 themselves.
The game was significant for junior setter Meredith Boe. With 54 assists, the match against Duquesne was her fifth 50-plus assist match for the season. She is currently ranked eighth in the NCAA for assists this season. With 1841 career assists, Boe is only 78 away from entering SLU’s all-time top 10 for career assists. If she manages to top 2,000 assists, she will only be the eighth Billiken to do so.
Two more Billikens on the cusp of making SLU’s history books are juniors Anna Church and Megan Gilbert. Church, who currently leads the A-10 in digs with 4.54 per set, needs 115 more to reach 1000 career digs. This would place her at 15th all-time for SLU. Middle blocker Gilbert is nine blocks away from a spot in the all-time top 20. She currently stands at 200.
The women will have a shot at reaching these milestones this weekend, when SLU takes on two more A-10 opponents at Chaifetz Pavilion. The match against VCU will take place at 7 p.m. Friday.
VCU, although 7-7 for the season overall, has won their past 5 games and will likely be looking to extend their streak. Then, Sunday at 1 p.m., the Billikens will face conference newcomer Davidson. Davidson stands at 2-9 overall for the season.
Though it’s early to make any predictions, SLU definitely stands out among its A-10 competition. SLU is 11th in the NCAA in service aces with 101 and 25th in aces per set with 1.66. Only two other A-10 schools, Dayton and George Washington, won both their Conference games last weekend. And Dayton is the only school in the conference that has a better overall win percentage, with a record of 13-4.
