After falling behind early, the Saint Louis University volleyball team came back to defeat the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons on Saturday afternoon at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center.
In a closely contested first game that included 10 ties, Nicole Howell registered a kill for IPFW to give them a 26-24 lead.
They would run off the next four points, winning the game 30-24 on a service ace from Howell.
As close as the first game was, the second game of the match needed several extra points to produce a winner.
IPFW began to build a lead, 15-10, but the Billikens clawed their way back and eventually ran off four consecutive points to take a 20-19 lead in the game.
From that point on, the score was tied 10 times, and SLU prevailed with a 34-32 win to tie the match up one game apiece.
SLU didn’t take their first lead in the third game of the match until Lauren Christman registered a kill on a set by Lauren Boissevain to put them up 12-11.
Both teams traded the lead repeatedly before another kill by Christman gave the Billikens a 26-25 lead.
That was the first of five consecutive points for SLU, all culminating in a victory when an attack error was called against IPFW’s Claire Jackson, giving the Billikens a 30-25 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
After being thoroughly tested in the first three games, the Billikens finished off the Mastodons relatively easily in the fourth game, winning 30-24.
After briefly falling behind in the first few points, Aida Antanaviciute registered a kill to give SLU a 4-3 lead.
The Billikens would never trail after that, running off with a lead that eventually reached double digits.
Their largest lead was 28-17, but the Mastodons made one last attempt at coming back.
It ultimately failed when Antanaviciute tallied another kill to give the Billikens the win, but IPFW did manage to close the gap to 30-24.
Statistically, the Billikens were led by Erin McClanahan, who finished the game with 29 digs—a career high for the senior.
Antanaviciute and Boissevain both finished with double-doubles, with Antanaviciute registering a match-high 22 kills as well as 14 digs.
Boissevain achieved her double-double by registering 63 assists and 11 digs.
In attack percentage, the Billikens made significant improvements after hitting only .041 in Game 1 as they hit .240, .279 and .214 in Games 2, 3 and 4, respectively.
The Mastodons’ only game above the .200 mark was in Game 2, when they hit .216.
Their lowest game came in Game 4, when they hit .082.
The Billikens brought their record above the .500 mark with the win, going 13-12 on the season.
The match with IPFW was not part of Atlantic 10 Conference play, so their A-10 record remains 5-4.
They have now won four consecutive matches at home.
The Billikens will next be in action with a pair of A-10 matches this weekend.
The University of Dayton Flyers, leaders of the A-10 Western Division, visit SLU on Friday at 7 p.m., while the Xavier University Musketeers come to SLU to face off on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Billikens have already played both UD and XU this season.
The Flyers defeated the Billikens in five sets in Dayton on Oct. 15.
A day earlier, the Musketeers beat SLU in four sets in Cincinnati.
Both of these games will be an opportunity for the Billikens to exact some revenge and get a quality win against tough A-10 opponents.
UD has a record of 17-9 and 10-1 in the A-10, while XU is currently 16-10 and 8-3 in A-10 play.
