Sometimes the best things aren’t big or long-lived. They’re just outstanding moments.
The Saint Louis University volleyball team capped off a season of outstanding moments, including regular season wins over Louisville, Indiana and Notre Dame, by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Healthy Choice Conference USA Tournament.
On Nov. 15, the Bills avenged their late regular season loss to Charlotte by easily sweeping the 49ers.
“The team was ready to play,” said coach Marilyn Nolen. “We were embarrassed by the match before with Charlotte. We weren’t at the level we needed to be, whether it was because of the long weekend of travel or we just underestimated their team. We were well prepared the second time, and we played much better, almost like night and day.”
The Billikens grabbed the lead early on in the match, outscoring the 49ers 9-1 in the beginning of game one.
With the game tied at 21-21, Colleen Hunter ignited the Billiken offense by drilling a kill to push the Bills ahead. SLU took advantage of four consecutive Charlotte errors and Hunter’s late game kills to close the game 30-22.
In the second game, SLU took an early lead again and maintained the lead throughout the game. Missy Werges had several shining moments in the match, starting with hammering two straight kills to set the pace for the Billiken offense and nailing the final kill of the game to give the Bills a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
“Missy Werges had the best match of her career against Charlotte,” Nolen said. “We switched her to the right side since we lost Kayla (Kmitta). Kayla was big on that side, but Missy stepped up and added size to our blocking. She was very effective in the game at critical times and has been very positive.”
Werges continued to pace the Bills in the third and final game of the match. The game remained close, but a kill from Werges started a late run for SLU, and the Bills closed the match 30-25.
Hunter dominated the Billiken offense with 20 kills, and Werges contributed nine kills and Ember Knobeloch chipped in seven kills.
Defensively, Brooke Minniear was on fire with 21 digs. Dani Apted was solid defensively with 13 digs, and Jessica Kmitta and Shannan Swiney each chipped in eight digs.
The next day, the Bills faced the Louisville Cardinals in the quarterfinal match and fell 3-1.
In the first game, Louisville jumped ahead and scored seven straight points. Swiney attempted to start a Billiken rally with a kill, but the Bills committed six straight hitting errors and ended hopes of a rally. Despite a strong first-game showing from Hunter, the Bills lost 30-22.
Louisville scored four straight points at the beginning of the second game and continued to add to their lead until a late SLU run allowed the Billikens to tie the match 7-7.
The Bills scored two consecutive points to push ahead to 9-7, but the Cards answered back with four straight points to regain the lead at 11-9.
Louisville continued to pull away from the Bills, but Minniear ended the Cardinal run and allowed the Bills to catch the Cards and tie the game at 15-15. UL and SLU traded the lead back and forth during the rest of the game, and combined efforts from Minniear and Hunter allowed the Bills to end the game at 30-27.
“After the second game, we thought we’d be in a good position to get it done, but we didn’t get it done in terms of blocking, digging, our defense wasn’t as strong as it had been, our offense wasn’t as strong. I just don’t know what happened,” Nolen said.
In the third game, Louisville led early on, but the Bills slowly chipped away at the lead and worked their way to a 10-10 tie. The score was tied three more times before SLU took the lead for the first time at 16-15. The game remained close throughout, and Louisville finally edged the Bills and took the game 30-24.
The Billikens took an early lead in the fourth game but couldn’t maintain it, as Louisville notched six straight points.
The Cards held on to the lead for most of the third game and diminished any hopes of a late SLU rally and closed the match 30-23.
Hunter again led the Bills with a match-high 26 kills and notched her last double-double of the season with 15 digs.
Minniear and Knobeloch added 10 and seven kills, respectively. Apted led the defense in her final appearance as a Billiken with a match-high 16 digs.
“Colleen and Brooke played well, and Beth Middendorf played very well against Louisville. She helped us to win the second game,” Nolen said. “Dani had a good tournament. She was good with digging and was a primary passer for us. Cristal Leonard played well the first day, but didn’t do as well the second day.”
The match and tournament was filled with moments of excitement, happiness and bittersweet disappointment.
“It was a disappointment, especially for our seniors,” Nolen said. “It certainly was for Dani, since she’s been a captain this year, and now it’s the end of her four years, the end of volleyball for her, and the end of a lot. Cristal had a strong year for us. Her senior leadership helped us.”
With the season over, the Bills begin to look toward next season. Nolen anticipates another strong season, led by a core group of seniors, including Hunter, Minniear, Knobeloch and Werges.
“We’ll have an outstanding group of seniors next year. We didn’t reach our goal of getting to the NCAA Tournament this year, but we’re preparing for next year,” Nolen said. “This season was one of the most exciting we’ve ever had, even though our record may not show it. We had a lot of outstanding moments this year.”
