Cinderella went to the ball last weekend, but the clock struck midnight too soon. The Saint Louis University men’s club volleyball team had a fairy tale showing at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association National Championship in Columbus, Ohio, but their magic ran out in the semifinal round against Lakeland College.
Despite its flawless 14-0 record headed into the weekend, SLU entered the tournament seeded 38th overall. The Billikens turned heads in the first round by downing the first-seeded team in their pool and the No. 6 seed overall, Washington State University. SLU’s fire carried them through three matches and single-elimination wins over Bethel College and Columbia University and finally into the semifinal round where Lakeland loomed.
“Since we were a low seed, our pools were hard every day,” said team captain Will Hand. “Our first six matches were against good teams, and we were undefeated until we played Lakeland.”
In the semifinal match with Lakeland, SLU played competitively with Lakeland throughout the duration of the three games. In the first game, Lakeland pulled ahead to take an early 4-0 lead; SLU rallied to catch Lakeland, but could not mount enough of a comeback and lost the game 25-23.
“Our defense wasn’t great, but our offense was wonderful,” Hand said. “We ran combinations (of middle and outside sets) … and we had many opportunities to hit on one or no blocks.”
During the second game, SLU began with a similar deficit, but exploded later in the game after an offensive surge from Hand and took the game 25-23. In a decisive third game, Lakeland held a six-point advantage in the beginning of the game, but their lead slipped late in the game when SLU battled to even the score. However, the game began to sway Lakeland’s way once more after a controversial call at the tie.
“Denny Perry had a series of good serves and brought us to a 13-all tie,” Hand said. “The referee made a double-contact call, which was very controversial, on Doug Cox, our setter.”
After the call, SLU could not recover and lost the game 15-13.
SLU finished the tournament in third place overall, marking the best national finish in the program’s history. Hand led SLU offensively with 29 kills on 35 swings, while Patrick Lodes and Joe Duchek chipped in nine and eight kills, respectively. The defense was steadied by Andrew Rogan, who tallied 11 digs, while Duchek put up nine blocks in the front row.
