Less than a week left before the season officially starts for
the Saint Louis University volleyball team, three girls have been
bitten by the injury bug.

Kayla Kmitta, a senior that was to be heavily relied on up the
middle for the Billikens this year, is out for about a month with a
knee injury. Her injury looms large over those of Mo Shortal and
Alexis Cooley, who injured their wrist and knee, respectively,
however, with less than six days remaining until the Billikens
square off against Indiana State, any and all bad news seems to be
amplified.

“The injuries are killing us. I don’t have any doubts that we’ll
be able to overcome them, but it’s one of those things that you
don’t really like to deal with,” coach Anne Kordes said.

Injuries aside, though, there is a lot of reason for optimism
this season, and a lot of that centers around the changes and
additions that the program, as a whole, has made, starting with a
very active alumni group and a booster club.

“The St. Louis area is very rich in its volleyball tradition. We
are really trying to tap that excitement for the sport and bring it
to our program,” Kordes said.

To do this, the team has started having alumni-undergrad
matches, fund-raisers and picnics, and Kordes has also started
having “chalk talks” with boosters to help foster a more active
connection between the team, itself, and the people who are all too
eager to support it.

But all of the off-the-court changes aside, Kordes and the team
have also implemented some big changes on the court as well. The
biggest changes have come in the defensive specialist and setter
roles. Last season, Erin McClanahan held most of the setting duties
for the team, after transferring from a junior college the year
before.

This season she has been shifted to the defensive specialist
position.

“Erin is undoubtedly one of the leaders of this team. She is as
professional a player as it gets, and the qualities that she brings
to this team are irreplaceable,” Kordes said.

Moving into McClanahan’s position is Lauren Boissevain, who
previously played two years ago and brings a different aspect to
the position.

“Lauren’s experience at other positions will give us a different
aspect at setter. She is both offensive-and-defensive minded,”
Kordes said.

Boissevain’s experience stems from last season when she spent
time at both outside hitter and defensive specialist.

The rest of the big changes were forced by the injury bug, but
they have given a lot of girls ample experience and playing
time.

Included in that mix is freshman Sutton Lassiter, who has been
seeing a lot of action in practice as an outside hitter and, with
her height, will also see action in the middle.

Hopefully, Shortal and Powers will be back from their respective
injuries in time for the Bills’ first match of the season against
Larry Bird’s alma mater, Indiana State, up in Terre Haute.

That game kicks off a very ambitious eight-game road trip to
start the season, which will take the Billikens through Terre
Haute, Bloomington and Indianapolis with a quick jaunt to Milwaukee
in the middle.

They will not open their home season until North Texas comes to
St. Louis in the middle of next month. Hopefully, that will be
enough time for most of the Bills to heal, but it will still be
another week or two thereafter until Kayla Kmitta can
recouperate.

They just hope that the injuries will all be mended by then.