Mitch Williams, a.k.a. the “Wild Thing,” was the closer for the
1993 Philadelphia Phillies team that lost to the Toronto Blue Jays
in six games in the World Series.

Williams gave up a walk-off homerun to Joe Carter in the bottom
of the ninth inning to seal the fate for the Phils and to elevate
the Blue Jays to the championship.

While there wasn’t a championship at stake, the Saint Louis
University volleyball team can sympathize somewhat with Mitch
Williams after the late-night comeback of the Marquette Golden
Eagles this past Saturday evening to help Marquette steal a victory
from the jaws of defeat.

The Billikens (12-14, 4-5) dropped the first game of the match
against Marquette but rallied back to take the next two games and
control of the match.

Senior Kayla Kmitta showed that she is all the way back from the
early season injury that sidelined her for much of the season.

Kmitta slammed down 13 kills in the effort, and she was joined
in double digits by freshman Sutton Lasater, who tallied 16, and
junior Lauren Boissevain, who threw down 11.

Junior Aida Antanaviciute, as she has done most of the season,
led the Billikens in the kill department, contributing 25.
Antanaviciute and Lasater each had a double-double, notching 10 and
13 digs, respectively.

But the solid, all-around offensive output by the team was not
enough as the Golden Eagles thrashed back and forced the deciding
fifth game.

In the final game, Marquette broke out to an early lead and held
on to it for much of the game until the Billikens, buoyed by
Lasater, went on a late run and took a commanding 14-10 lead.

But the Bills just could not close the deal. The Golden Eagles
contributed a few kills and were helped by a couple of Billiken
hitting errors and, before they knew it, the Eagles had swooped in
and taken the game and the match, 16-14. The Billikens season-long
problems with finishing out the fifth-game matches continued.

A victory against Marquette would have given the Bills a
three-game winning streak, after trouncing Cincinnati the week
before and putting away DePaul the night before.

The Blue Demons came to SLU waning below the .500 mark and
trying to align their conference hopes.

They were sorely disappointed as the Billikens took care of
DePaul in short order, winning the first two games, having a
momentary setback in game three but waxing the Demons 30-16 in game
four. Antanaviciute, as had become the norm, led the Bills in
kills, with an astounding 31.

She also reached double digits in digs with 16. Boissevain, who
has been coming into her own as an outside hitter, contributed 17
kills in the effort as well.

Next up for the Billikens is another road trip, this time to the
University of Alabama-Birmingham and the University of South
Florida. Both squads are struggling, with USF 6-15 and UAB an
astounding 1-20 overall. These two matches are the Billikens’ best
chance at getting above .500 before the Conference USA tournament
and solidifying a good seed.

After this weekend, the Billikens will have two matches left,
against TCU and Houston, and then the C-USA tournament. There is
not much time left for the Billikens to make a splash, but they
certainly have a schedule conducive to doing so in these final
weeks.

If they could only win those game fives.