Tigers. Panthers. Cougars. Yeah, even Horned Frogs. The Saint Louis University volleyball team cares not. Whether it is an overgrown house cat or a horny little toad, the Billikens make no distinctions and walk over any team in their path.
Tomorrow night, in the Baughman-Eberhart Center, the Bills will once again take to the court with a three game winning streak to defend.
“I’d say the girls are cautiously confident. They’ve still got some goals they want to get accomplished but right now they are really happy and they are playing like it,” said coach Marilyn Nolen.
Their opponent is the Horned Frogs from Texas Christian University. The Frogs have an 8-10 record overall and a 0-2 record thus far in conference play. But do not be deceived. TCU will come to play.
Led by two dominant hitters up front, the Frogs would give any team a handful on defense. But the Bills defense has come on as of late and should be more than up to the task when the Frogs come calling tomorrow night.
“We have been solid on our basics and our blocks and have put in some new offensive plays to get ready for TCU,” Nolen said.
A day later the Bills will play another conference foe, the Houston Cougars. The Cougars are 10-4 on the season and 1-0 in conference play.
This match-up also has an added significance, when SLU faces off against Houston Saturday night the active coach with the 10th most wins, Cougar coach Bill Walton, will go against the active coach with the 2nd most wins, SLU’s coach Marilyn Nolen.
“I’ve known coach Walton for a long time and I know that he is a good coach and his girls will be ready to play us,” Nolen stated.
Last Saturday, the Bills headed down to Memphis, Tenn., to hand out a crushing defeat to the University of Memphis Tigers, not to mention bring home their second straight conference road win to start off the season.
“It was quite an interesting match. It was close the entire way and I was really glad we could pull it out and win it in just three games,” Nolen said.
The game scores were 30-28, 30-28 and 30-27 respectively. However, the Bills had both more kills and digs than their Memphis counterparts.
They also continued to excel in the setting and passing departments and even threw in a few new patterns and switches.
Colleen Hunter and Ember Knobeloch once again controlled the offensive net for the Bills, with 14 and 11 kills respectively.
Hunter also had 12 digs, giving her a double-double. Brooke Minniear added another 11 digs as well as tallying six kills of her own in the short three game match. Ashley Hunter also continued her excellent play adding six kills and six blocks.
The win ended the Tiger’s nine match winning streak and extended SLU’s overall winning streak to three. After the win, SLU is now ranked 5th in their region.
