The volleyball team picked up its 12th straight victory and its fifth consecutive shutout yesterday evening against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, which head coach Anne Kordes described as “a shaky performance” by the Bills.

The team improves to 20-4 on the season; SIUE, though not part of the Atlantic 10 conference, has long been seen as a local rival to SLU.

“It was sloppy,” Kordes said. “It’s one of those things, you know, where they’re focused on conference opponents this time of year.”

Junior Sammi McCloud led all players with 13 kills on .414 hitting, while setter Whitney Roth added a match-high 30 assists. SLU also registered a season-high 11 aces against the Cougars.

In the opening set, the Bills hit .385 and dominated the Cougars, 25-12. SIUE posted six kills and committed six errors in the set.

Saint Louis University went on a 5-0 run and never looked back.

Junior Bridget Fonke, who was commanding against Xavier and Dayton, struggled to register kills. She was six for 22 on the night. The teams exchanged leads until the Bills took the set on a Cougar hitting error.

“I think we got a little relaxed,” captain Whitney Behrens said. “Playing last weekend, we were pumped up, and we came in with the weekend off. We need to stay on it.”

SIUE led briefly in the final set before Fonke hit down a pair of kills to put SLU on top and take the Bills to victory.

“They adjusted really well, and we came back with our best effort,” McCloud said. “We were a little shaky at times, but we were able to come back and show we could overcome that.”

The Bills take a seven-day break before returning to conference play Nov. 6.