The Saint Louis University volleyball team is learning an important lesson: History tends to repeat itself.
In 1997, the Billikens entered the Healthy Choice Conference USA Volleyball Tournament as the No. 7 seed, and faced No. 10 Charlotte. The Billikens defeated the 49ers in the first round, and advanced to play the No. 2 Louisville.
This year, the No. 7 Billikens face No. 10 Charlotte today at 1 p.m. The winner of today’s match will play No. 2 Louisville in the second round.
The team split its final regular season weekend on the road in North Carolina with a loss Friday to Charlotte and a win Saturday to Conference USA newcomer Eastern Carolina.
“I don’t think we played well the first night on the road,” said coach Marilyn Nolen. “Overall, we were not mentally ready. I don’t know if it was the status of the team that we were playing, the weekend of traveling, or the fact it was our last weekend in the regular season. It was not a good performance overall.”
The 49ers jumped ahead early in the first game and hit a commanding .444, while the Billikens could only muster a .148 offensive attack. Charlotte took the game 30-19.
The Bills picked up the pace in game two and looked to tie the match at 1-1, but Charlotte took charge late in the game and edged the Bills 30-28.
In the third game, the Bills finally pushed past the 49ers to take the game 30-26. They had their match high hitting percentage of .357 and held Charlotte to hitting just .229. The 49ers recovered in the fourth game and closed the match at 30-21.
Junior middle hitter Colleen Hunter notched 21 kills on 52 swings, but committed 12 errors.
“Twelve errors is very uncharacteristic of Colleen,” Nolen said. “Usually she gets 20-something kills and two or three errors.”
Defensively, Hunter added a career-high 22 digs.
Ember Knobeloch and Brooke Minniear aided the Billiken efforts, hitting nine kills apiece. Dani Apted and Jessica Kmitta paced the Billiken defense with 15 and 11 digs, respectively.
The Billikens were well prepared for the ECU match, and picked up their second road win of the season.
“We played well against ECU,” Nolen said. “We looked more like the team that beat Notre Dame, Indiana and DePaul.”
The Bills steadily overpowered the Pirates, winning the first game 30-25. The Bills hit .342, connecting on 17 out of 38 attempts, and the Billiken defense held ECU to a mere .208.
ECU bounced back in the second game to win 30-27, and held the Bills to a match-low .147, while the Pirate offense dominated with a .321.
The Bills regained their composure and steamed past ECU in the third and fourth games to win the match. In game three, the Bills hit a solid .314, and sizzled in game four with a .444.
Hunter again paced the Billiken offense with 18 kills and chipped in 11 digs, but Alyson Merchant ignited the Bills with a career-high 13 kills on 30 swings. Knobeloch added 10 kills, and Missy Werges and Cristal Leonard each added seven kills.
“We moved Missy to the right side, because we needed her blocking strength since we lost Kayla. Missy’s done a great job in that position for us,” Nolen said.
Kmitta led the defensive efforts with 16 digs, and setter Shannan Swiney handed out 48 assists, as well as three service aces.
“We served well, and our hitting is decidedly better,” Nolen said. “All of the little problems we had in Charlotte got better. Maybe it was all the time we spent together.”
The Bills hope to pick up where they left off in 1997, but defeating Charlotte and competing with Louisville will require the Bills to pull their experiences of the season together and put everything on the line.
