The Saint Louis University volleyball team still has a pulse and
a glimmer of hope as they enter the Conference USA tournament this
weekend and play the host Tulane, especially after playing two very
solid matches, first against Tulane, who tied for fourth in the
conference, and then against Southern Miss, who finished third.
Each match went the distance, with the Billikens finally falling in
the fifth and deciding game each time.

However, even with the losses, the Billikens still took
something positive away from the weekend. After hovering around the
bottom of the conference standings for most of the season and not
knowing if they would even make the C-USA Tournament until after a
pair of East Carolina and Charlotte losses this weekend assured
them of the last spot, the strong play the Bills exhibited against
two of the top teams in the conference should give them a surge of
confidence going against Tulane again tomorrow.

Tulane, who is 24-6 overall and 9-4 in conference play, will
play the Billikens tomorrow night only after losing to Memphis in
each team’s final match of the season. The match gave Memphis the
fourth seed and a first round bye in the C-USA tournament and
forced Tulane into playing a first round game against the
Billikens, the team they barely beat just a weekend before.

That match was a seesaw struggle for both teams and was
characterized by Tulane coach, Betsy Becker, as something which
somewhat resembled the Dow Jones: up and down and up and down, up
and down.

The Billikens dropped games one and three convincingly, 30-23
and 30-13 respectively, but won games two and four in impressive
fashion, both times by the score 30-22. The win in game four forced
a shortened game five, in which the teams play to 15 instead of
30.

Tulane came out strong early on in games, but the Billikens
battled back, thanks largely to three key kills by Kayla Kmitta,
who was playing middle hitter. However, Tulane was able to pull
away at the end of the game and took the match 15-9.

The loss over Tulane, though, featured a few very impressive
performances from some Billikens, notably Jessica Kmitta, who
notched 24 digs, which was a short-lived career high for her.
Alexis Cooley led the Bills in kills with 14 and Kayla Kmitta
followed close behind with 13 kills, also adding seven blocks for
good measure.

The next evening, the Billikens outdid their previous night’s
performance, against Southern Miss, but again they were unable to
come away with a win.

After dropping the first game, the Bills took games two and
three, with the game score of the third being 35-33. The Golden
Eagles battled back, though, and took game four, thus forcing a
second consecutive fifth and deciding game. After starting off
slowly, the Billikens rallied from a 5-3 deficit and took control,
by a score of 12-10. However, Southern Miss rallied off five
straight points and escape the Bauman-Eberhardt Center with a
win.

The game, however, showcased more than a few career games for a
few players, most notably Cooley who had 21 kills and seven blocks.
Alyson Merchant also tallied a career high in kills with 16.

Jessica Kmitta had more digs than any Billiken since the late
’90s, 31, and her sister, Kayla, had a match high eight blocks to
go with her 16 kills. However, the most astonishing statistic to
come out of that match might have been Erin McClanahan’s 71
assists, which put her well over 1,000 assists for the season,
putting her where only nine Billikens have gone before and the
season is not over yet.

While losses are never something to shoot for, though, the
Billikens can take solace in playing two of their best games of the
season and gaining some confidence against their first-round
opponent in the tournament.

C-USA Tournament Opener

Who: Tulane Green Wave

When: Tomorrow, 7 p.m.
Where: New Orleans, Louisiana