Close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades.
The Saint Louis University Volleyball team was close. The Billikens wrapped up their season two weekends ago at the Conference USA tournament in Chicago with a fourth-place finish. It turns out that it left the Bills one win shy of making their first trip to the NCAA tournament. So close.
The Bills finished their season 21-10 overall, with an astounding 10-3 record in C-USA. It was undoubtedly one of the team’s best seasons ever.
“We had a lot of fights to get there. We pulled out quite a few five-game matches and we progressively got better as the season went by,” coach Marilyn Nolen said. “One of our goals was to win 21 games this season and we were able to get that done in the conference tournament with a win against Marquette.”
The win against Marquette came in the second round of the conference tournament. The Bills had a bye in the first round. Marquette knocked off Tulane before falling to the Bills in three straight games. Colleen Hunter, Ashley Hunter and Brooke Minniear each reached double digits in kills against Marquette, with 16, 12 and 10 respectively. The Bills took the first game quite easily with a 30-17 decision. In the second game, Marquette made a valiant run but the Bills were able to hold them off, winning 32-30. The Bills took the third and final game 30-27.
“Marquette was the last team to get into the tournament but they were playing really well against us and Tulane. Of course, when you are fighting to keep your season alive you tend to play a lot harder,” Nolen said.
The win against Marquette not only gave the Bills their 21st win on the season, but also gave coach Nolen the 800th win for her career. She becomes only the third coach in Division I volleyball history to accomplish that feat.
After the win against Marquette, the Bills moved on to the tournament semifinals to face off against top-seeded Louisville. The Bills beat Louisville earlier this season, but they were not able to repeat their success this time. The Cardinals took the match in three straight games.
Beth Middendorf contributed 24 assists, Minniear had a match-high 13 digs, Colleen Hunter had a match-high 17 kills and Ember Knobeloch had nine kills and three blocks in the losing effort.
The loss put the Billikens on the bubble to get a bid to the NCAA tournament, the other main team goal for the season. But, in the end, it wasn’t enough.
“We had that one bad loss early on in the conference season (against UAB) and that was probably one of the reasons why we did not get invited,” coach Nolen said.
Aside from the loss to UAB, the Bills’ only other conference losses were to eventual tournament champion South Florida, and the third place team, Cincinnati. South Florida, Louisville and Cincinnati are all going to the NCAA tournament.
The loss to Louisville marked the end of the careers for seniors Colleen Hunter, Middendorf, Knobeloch, Minniear and Missy Werges.
“It’s going to be tough coming into the gym after this and not seeing them in there working,” Nolen said of her graduating seniors.
Middendorf led the team assists this year, as the team’s main setter. Knobeloch was a mainstay in the center of the floor for the Bills and Werges and Minniear were strong outside hitters over the course of their careers for the Bills. Minniear, in fact, finished finished the season eighth in C-USA in digs. And then there is Colleen Hunter.
Hunter finished the season 2nd in the conference in kills and 3rd in the conference in blocks. Her efforts got her named to the All-Conference first team for the third straight year. She also finished her career as the only player in conference history to finish with 1,500 kills, 1,000 digs and 500 blocks. She totaled 2,170 kills, 1053 digs and 520 blocks over her four-year career.
With the departure of these five seniors the Bills will look to retool to make another run at a conference title next year.
It will not be easy, but with a strong core of players remaining, such as Ashley Hunter and Lauren Boissevain, as well as what looks to be a great recruiting class coming next fall, the Bills are hoping that it won’t take too long to get back to where they are right now, and hopefully surpass this season’s results.
