The NFL has the Bengals, the NBA has the Vancouver Grizzlies and
the Saint Louis University volleyball team, on Tuesday night, had
the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks. And they came just in
time too.
After a rough start to the season in which the Billikens played
a handful of out-of-town tournaments boasting almost exclusively
top 25 teams–or teams knocking on the door, the Billikens returned
home Tuesday night to host the Skyhawks and, it seemed, everything
was right again.
No more memories of a 6-10 start or injuries. On Tuesday, the
Bills came out hitting and digging like a Mafia hit squad and
proceeded to dispatch the overmatched Hawks in less time than it
took the French to surrender in World War II, taking the match 3-0,
the games scores being 30-23, 30-24 and 30-22. No one has had a
softball this size pitched to them since Katie Couric asked Hillary
Clinton if “she was a saint” on the “Today” show.
“We hit really well tonight. If you compare our hitting
percentages to theirs, it really is just astounding to see how well
we did,” said coach Marilyn Nolen.
The Billikens hitting percentage, .443, was more than twice that
of the Skyhawks, .211, and the Bills were paced by junior setter
Erin McClanahan’s school record-setting .800 hitting percentage.
McClanahan recorded the Billiken’s first triple-double since
Colleen Hunter’s, almost a year ago, against Houston.
“She said that she wanted to get a triple-double on television.
She called it and it was kind of funny how she followed through on
it,” Nolen said.
McClanahan had 40 assists, 13 digs and 12 kills, which is an
astounding number for a setter.
Jessica Kmitta, Angela Powers and Kayla Kmitta were also an
integral part of the Bills’ route, chipping in 12, 12 and 11 kills,
respectively. Kayla Kmitta also added two solo blocks, as she
helped the Billikens control the net and the pace of the game, even
with the absence of star outside hitter Ashley Hunter, who was
injured.
“Ashley has a stress fracture in her foot but we are hoping to
get her back as soon as we can because the Conference USA season
opens now.,” Nolen said.
Hunter can’t get back soon enough, though, with Memphis visiting
SLU tomorrow to open up the C-USA season, since Memphis has an
almost unblemished record–their only loss came against Arkansas
State.
However, Memphis did not play nearly as tough a schedule as SLU
has to open their season, and, hopefully, that will translate
positively for the Billikens.
“We decided to make a tough schedule because we felt that would
give us the best chance at getting our girls enough experience by
the time the conference season opened,” Nolen said.
The Billikens will have ample opportunity to test their newfound
experience because, after Memphis, the Billikens will have six
straight weekends of conference double-headers, alternating home
and away until the end of the season tournament in
mid-November.
But it all starts tomorrow night, with the Billikens taking on
the Tigers at 7 p.m. in the opening game of the second half of the
season.
C-USA HOME OPENER
Who: Memphis Tigers
When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m.
Where: Bauman-Eberhardt Center
