Tomorrow night, the Saint Louis University volleyball team will
take a little trip down to the Bayou and see if they can do a
little more damage to a town that was just ravaged by Hurricane
Ivan not more than two weeks ago.
The object of the Billiken dis-affection is the Tulane Green
Wave. The match with the Green Wave will be only the Bills’ second
Conference USA game of the season, however, it could be an already
crucial one, as the Green Wave are 1-1 in C-USA this year, losing
to Texas Christian to open the season but then upending Houston to
get back to .500 for the conference season.
They boast an impressive trio of offensive players, highlighted
by Deva Fowler, who has 158 kills on the season and also paces the
team in blocks, with 53. She is joined at the net by Sarah Weiland
and Lindsay Norman, who have each topped the century mark in kills
to date. The Green Wave are a perfect 5-0 at home with an overall
record of 8-3.
The Bills will then head to Hattiesburg, Miss., on Saturday to
take on the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles are
still reeling from a seven-game losing streak that they just
recently snapped against Alcorn State last weekend.
Leading the way for the Golden Eagles, as she has done all
season, was Jazzmien Stephens.
She registered 23 kills to pace Southern Miss and to add to her
team-high season total of 123. She also leads the team in
blocks.
After starting the season 3-2, Southern Miss hit a huge
stumbling block, reeled off seven straight losses and, by the time
they recovered, they found themselves 4-9 on the season and 0-2 in
Conference play heading into the weekend, where they will have to
face a stacked Memphis team the night before the Billikens get in
town for another Conference USA matchup.
past week, which has been much needed, considering the injury
predicaments they have found themselves in for much of the season.
In fact, in their last match last Friday against a streaking
Memphis team, the Billikens once again found themselves playing
with only seven players and yet they still took the powerful Tigers
to the brink of a big upset victory, before finally falling 17-15
in the final game of the match.
As has been the case all season, junior Aida Antanaviciute led
the Billikens in the kills department, topping 30 for the fourth
time this season and finishing with 36.
And, again as they have done all season, a few young Bills
stepped up. Freshman Sutton Lasater had 10 kills to go along with
her nine blocks.
This matches the total that senior Alexis Cooley had, as she
again helped to dominate the net for the Billikens as they worked
to overcome their lack of depth on the bench in the five-game
marathon. Freshman Chrissy King dropped in 12 kills for the Bills
and junior Lauren Boissevain distributed the ball at an astounding
pace, dishing out 61 assists.
The “close, but no cigar” adage has been a staple for the
Billikens for much of the season.
It might start to fade away in the coming weeks as the Bills
look to get back some of their roster and bulk up for the stretch
run, which starts tomorrow in New Orleans.
