The Saint Louis University men’s club volleyball team probably surprised some teams at the NIRSA ational club volleyball championships by being seeded eighth out of 64 teams.
But it was the Billikens who ended up getting the most stunned-by the NIRSA tournament officials.
When the Billikens arrived in Reno, Nev., for the tourney, tournament officials decided to push SLU to a 17th seed.
As a result, SLU had to play against Eckerd College and Providence College of Canada, two of the top teams in the tournament, in the early rounds.
Because of the lower seeding, the Billikens finsih in 9th place in the tourney.
“When we got there, they changed our seeding to 17th,” said captain and setter Brian Black. “(The officials said) It was because we hadn’t played many teams (in the tournament) and no one knew who we were.”
Teams do now, though. The Billikens romped through the first round of the event, drilling St. John’s, San Francisco and New Hampshire.
But because of the seeding, the Bills were forced to play the toughest squads in the single-elimination second round.
Providence College in Canada, the No. 2 seed, beat SLU 25-23, 25-20 in their first match of the second round in the Gold Division. The Bills then took on No. 1 seed Eckerd College of St. Petersburg, Fla. SLU fell to Eckerd 25-22, 25-18.
Instead of advancing to the final four of the tourney, the Bills had to sit and watch those teams battle for the championship.
“We played really well all tournament,” Black said. “Our outside hitters carried us through the tournament.”
Will Hand, one of those hitters, earned All-American honors for his play in the tourney. Mark Forsberg and Ashan Deutsch also played well as hitters.
One team told the Billikens that they ran the best offense in the tourney.
“It was a good experience for us, considering we have been only playing games for two months, had a coach for two months and practicing one night a week,” Black said.
He also noted that most of the teams at the tourney worked out year-round.
The team finished the year with a record of 23-3.
