Tennis
A pair of Billikens received accolades from the Atlantic 10 Conference recently. Junior Hailee Elmore of the women’s team and James McArthur of the men’s team were each named the A-10 Players of the Week for their respective sports for the period of Feb. 15-21.
Elmore posted a 2-0 record at No. 1 singles and 2-0 at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles during the time span. Her play has aided the women’s team during a 5-match win streak. SLU defeated Western Illinois University 7-0 on Feb. 19 before blanking Bradley University, 7-0, two days later on Feb. 21.
The win streak was eventually brought to an end, however, as Missouri defeated SLU 6-1 on Feb. 23. The loss was no fault of Elmore’s, though. The reigning player of the week defeated Jamie Mera 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) to register the only point for the Billikens. Elmore also teamed up with junior Casey Miller to take one of the three doubles matches. She and Miller easily won the super-tiebreaker of their doubles tilt against Mallory Weber and Kaitlyn Ritchie to capture a 9-8 (10-2) triumph.
McArthur went 2-0 at No. 2 singles and 2-0 at No. 1 doubles this past week to remain perfect on the season. McArthur’s singles and doubles records for the spring each sit at 5-0, which is the same as the men’s team’s overall record. The award was the second of McArthur’s career.
Women’s basketball
Junior Lauren Woods averaged 24 points and shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from the field during two key conference victories. It was the first time in Woods’ career that she posted back-to-back games of at least 20 points. The accomplishment did not go unnoticed, as Woods was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week for the period of Feb. 15-21.
The nomination was the first of Woods’ career. Woods’ strong play helped the Billikens (10-17, 4-8 A-10) win two games in a row and three out of four games during a key stretch of conference play. The Billikens now seem assured to remain out of the A-10 basement and make it to the conference tournament. Under this year’s revised tournament, the bottom two teams are denied entrance into the tournament. The Bills are currently tied for ninth out of 14 teams.
The Feb. 28 game will see the Billikens, clad in special pink jerseys, host Richmond. SLU is one of more than 1,550 schools and organizations participating in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Pink Zone Initiative.
Track and Field
Sophomore standout Brittney Cloudy claimed the triple jump title for the second consecutive year at the Atlantic 10 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on the campus of the University of Rhode Island on Feb. 20.
Last year, Cloudy became the first Billiken ever to win an individual event at the A-10 Championships. She surpassed her own school record with a distance of 40 ft. 1.25 in. to defend her title.
The women’s team placed sixth out of 12 teams while the men’s squad finished 10th. The women’s finish was the highest ever for the team since its inception in the 2006-07 season.
The womens’ 4×800 meter relay team narrowly missed out on an A-10 title of its own. Jenna Romano, Caitlin McCarthy, Sara Fraley and Maddie O’Quinn finished less than a second behind the first place quartet from Temple. The squad’s time of 9:09.56 is good enough for the school record, though.
Swimming and Diving
Cloudy was not the only Billiken to claim her second individual A-10 title. Senior Anna Larson won the women’s three-meter diving event at the A-10 Swimming and Diving Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. Larson won the same event in 2007 as a freshman.
Larson’s preliminary round score of 307.60 was the second highest score in the school’s history, and was more than 50 points higher than the diver’s score who placed second. It was SLU’s first medal in the A-10 Championships since the 2007-08 campaign.
