They say good teams peak at the right time…that would certainly be the case for Billiken Volleyball. SLU ended the weekend with two wins against Rhode Island and VCU, securing their spot in the A-10 tournament with one week left of conference play. Sophomore Meredith Boe was named Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman Mallory Dillon collected her second Rookie of the Week honor.
After a heartbreaking five-set loss to Rhode Island last weekend, the two teams faced off again this Friday night – only this time the Bills had home court advantage. The first set, SLU jumped out to an early lead with Freshman Ashley Gagen’s five-point serving run. At 15-8, Rhode Island moved to close the gap but SLU responded finishing the first set 25-19.
URI responded in the second game and late runs finished the set 25-19 in favor of the Rams. Out of the break, the teams deadlocked quickly at 6-6, trading points the entire match. After an incredible 9 match point opportunities for the Bills, they finally clinched the set 35-33. Holding all the momentum going into the fourth, the teams again tied 24-24 at the end of the match. SLU fought again and finished the night on a 27-25 win. Freshman Mallory Dillon collected a match-high 25 kills with a .333 attack percentage. Sophomore Meredith Boe also finished with 57 assists.
The next night the Bills matched up against conference-leader VCU handing them only their second loss in A-10 play and sixth for their overall record. Despite VCU sophomore Romana Kriskova’s record-setting match, the Bills downed the Rams in three sets. Kriskova’s 13 kills were enough to place her in the books as VCU’s record holder for single-season kills.
As a team, the Bills hit a collective .265, holding VCU to only a .149 attack percentage. In the first set, the Bills held the lead by as much as eight points when closing out the set 25-18. SLU continued to outpace the Rams in the second set as well, a decisive 10-3 lead put the Billikens in position to capture the second 25-20.
Out of the break, VCU returned with a sense of confidence taking an early 12-6 lead over the Billikens. However, SLU could not be deterred, after a late 22-22 draw SLU pulled ahead and clinched the game 25-23. Prior to the Bills sweep this past weekend VCU had won 13 consecutive sets and 21 of their previous 22.
Over the weekend, Meredith Boe collected 94 assists (13.4 per set) over seven sets. Boe has been a top setter in the A-10 and is leading the conference with 11.09 assists per set in conference play. Mallory Dillon also had an outstanding weekend, tallying 34 kills across the two matches on a .318 hitting percentage. The Billikens return to Chaifetz Friday, Nov. 15 when they host George Washington at 7 p.m. Following that contest, Saint Louis will host their last home match of the season against George Mason Sunday Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. The game will honor the program’s seniors prior to first serve.
