There’s no place like home.
The Saint Louis University volleyball team (4-6 overall, 2-1 Conference USA) took advantage of its home court and avenged its loss to C-USA foe Memphis last Tuesday with a thrilling five game victory against the Tigers at home Friday.
“Memphis was important,” coach Marilyn Nolen said. “They’ve been in the cellar, in that nobody expected them to come out and play this hard.”
The Billikens started the match strong, winning the first game 30-17. The Bills slowed down in the second and third games as Memphis picked up the pace, taking the two games 30-28, 30-26. However, the Bills managed to regain their momentum in the fourth and fifth games, and closed out the match 30-27 and 15-13.
In their first match-up, the Bills struggled offensively against the Tigers. Friday night, the Billiken offense was on fire.
The Bills put down 68 kills on 172 swings with only 17 errors for an overall hitting percentage of .297.
Memphis managed eight more kills than the Billikens but committed twice the number of errors with 34, and ended up hitting .221 for the night.
“We were able to work hard against their three primary hitters. We practiced our defense in hopes that we could match our offense with their hitters,” Nolen said.
Four of SLU’s primary hitters notched double-digit figures in kills. Colleen Hunter contributed a team high 19 kills, while Ember Knobeloch and Missy Werges each picked up 13. Brooke Minniear chipped in 10 kills for the Billiken offensive efforts.
According to Nolen, the difference in the strength of the Billiken offense Tuesday and Friday was setter Shannan Swiney.
“Our offensive leader was Shannan Swiney. She’s now our full-time starting setter,” Nolen said. “She gets the ball to the primary attackers, and is continuing to gain experience in running the offense, running plays and getting the ball to our primary attackers when it’s close.”
Swiney handed out 53 assists against the Tigers, which made her just the ninth player at SLU to top 1,000 career assists. Swiney also chipped in eight kills in the UM match, including the match-winning point in the fifth game.
Defensively, the Bills dominated the match. Saint Louis tallied 16 team blocks, while Memphis managed only three for the night.
Minniear led the defense against the Tigers. She is settling into her more defensive role, and dug up 17 balls throughout the match.
“Brooke is not only improving offensively, but she’s leading the team in defense. She’s really stepped up and become a leader in that respect,” Nolen said.
The Billikens hope to take their hard-fought win against Memphis and use the momentum from the match as the team travels to Texas for an important C-USA weekend.
Friday, the Bills will take on the third-ranked Houston Cougars. Houston is currently 2-2 in conference play, and is coming off consecutive losses to C-USA powerhouses Cincinnati and Louisville.
Saturday, the Billikens will have a rematch with the TCU Horned Frogs. In the last match, Saint Louis won 3-1. TCU plays Memphis before hosting the Billikens, which may serve as an advantage for the Billikens.
“TCU won’t have the whole week to focus on us, since they have Memphis right before us. They will probably focus as much or more on Memphis,” Nolen said.
