Eventually, all good things must end.
The Saint Louis University volleyball team’s perfect home record was tarnished Sunday afternoon in the final home match of the season against South Florida. The 3-0 loss to the Bulls came after a hard fought 3-2 win against UAB Friday night.
“Friday night was a good win over UAB,” said coach Marilyn Nolen. “We played very well in the first and last games. Games three and four were a bit frustrating, but I’m glad we got the win.”
In the first game, the Blazers kept pace with the Billikens, until the SLU offense heated up and went on a 7-1 run. The Bills pushed the score to 22-15, when Colleen Hunter picked up the pace and edged the Billikens to a 30-18 win.
In game two, the Bills lead in the beginning of the game, but the Blazers picked up the pace and took over the lead. Again, Hunter came up big late in the game, and recovered the Billiken lead, making the score 28-24. UAB notched consecutive kills to tie the game at 28-28, and quickly took a 31-30 lead. A service error from UAB and service ace for the Bills from Jessica Kmitta put the Bills back on top, and Hunter closed the game at 34-32 with back-to-back kills.
The Blazers came alive in the third game, scoring seven straight points, and took the game 30-25. UAB seemed to back down later in the fourth game, but the Blazers fought back against the Billiken offense and won the game 30-23.
The fifth game started similarly to the first, with the Bills barely edging the Blazers 9-8. Brooke Minniear and Cristal Leonard drilled consecutive kills to help the Bills break away from UAB, and a UAB hitting error upped the Bills 11-8. SLU closed out the match by scoring three straight points, winning the game 15-9.
Hunter led the Billiken offense with 26 kills and 12 digs, as well as six blocks. Leonard contributed 12 kills, while Minniear added 11 kills and a team-high 17 digs. Defensive specialist Dani Apted chipped in 11 digs and four assists.
Sunday afternoon, the Billikens couldn’t keep the momentum from Friday night going. South Florida picked up the 3-0 win over the Billikens, marking the first loss in St. Louis for the Bills this season.
USF broke away from the 17-17 tie in the first game to bring the game to 22-18. SLU tried to keep pace with the South Florida, but the Bulls maintained the lead and closed the game at 30-24.
The Bills rallied late in the second game to come back from a 28-23 deficit to tie the game at 28-28, and the teams tossed the lead back and forth until South Florida’s Jolene Patton nudged the Bulls ahead 31-30.
USF ended the game 32-30 after Shameka Mitchell and Kelly Matiasmeier combined defensive efforts to block a SLU attempt.
“We were right in it with South Florida, but in games two and three, we didn’t make plays like we needed to. Our passing wasn’t as good, and neither was our blocking. It’s frustrating because it seemed like we had gotten over that,” Nolen said.
The third and final game began dominated by South Florida, and the Bills never relinquished the lead. The Billikens took advantage of three straight South Florida errors and narrowed the gap to one point, but the Bills committed a pair of errors, giving USF a lead that would not be recovered. The Bulls walked away with a 30-26 win, picking up their eighth straight victory.
`I don’t consider the loss a terrible thing,” Nolen said. “South Florida is ranked third in the conference, just behind Louisville whom we beat, and Cincinatti, whom we played well against.”
Hunter was a strong force for the Billiken efforts with 17 kills, which put her over the 1,500 career-kill mark, making her just the third player in SLU history to achieve the honor. Hunter also added six digs and six blocks defensively.
Ember Knobeloch aided the Billiken efforts with nine kills, while Minniear led the defense with 11 digs.
This week, the Bills will close out the remainder of the regular season with back-to-back C-USA matches in North Carolina. Friday night, the Bills will take on Charlotte, and Sunday will play C-USA newcomer East Carolina.
The Billiken offense will have to continue to make slight adjustments in North Carolina this weekend. Freshman Kayla Kmitta suffered a tear to her right ACL last week in practice and will not play for the remainder of the season.
“We still have a lot of the same offense. Kayla added size to blocking on the right side, and she was a big loss. But we still have Cristal Leonard, and Beth Middendorf played that position over the weekend, and was partially responsible for us coming back and winning Friday night. Our juniors and seniors will have to step up,” Nolen said.
