Saint Louis University women’s volleyball pushed its winning streak to five with two dominant A-10 conference wins over a pair of Rams teams, Rhode Island and Fordham, at Chaifetz Pavilion, including a 3-0 sweep of Fordham on Oct. 19.
These wins followed an Oct. 14 home victory over nonconference opponent Indiana State, and away wins against George Washington in Washington, D.C., and George Mason in Fairfax, Va. The Billikens now hold a 17-6 overall record, including a 6-2 mark in the A-10. This pushes the Billikens into third place in the A-10, behind only George Washington and Dayton, which each have only one conference loss.
The win against Rhode Island, which was previously 4-1 in the A-10, came in four sets, with the Billikens losing only a close second set. The first set went to SLU 25-20, behind a .317 team hitting percentage and eight kills by Danielle Rygelski.
The second set saw a late surge from Rhode Island, allowing the Rams to win the set 25-23, despite SLU maintaining a tie or lead in the set until the score in the set was tied at 17. The Rams and the Billikens both had .250 hitting percentages, but the Rams managed to pull off the win in the set.
After the break, however, the Billikens won both remaining sets to put away the match. SLU won the third set by a score of 25-15, and never looked like losing, with their largest lead in the set being 11 points. The Billikens posted a dominant .450 hitting percentage, with Lauren Leverenz leading the attack with six kills on six attacks. The Rams were held to just a .057 hitting percentage in this set, while SLU posted a sideout percentage of 80.
The fourth set was less dominant, but the Billikens managed to close out the contest comfortably, 25-19. The Billikens had a balanced attack, with Rygelski again leading in kills with four.
Rygelski had a team-high 17 kills, while Taylor Paulson posted 14, Leverenz had 13, and Nenye Okoro had 11, while also tallying 13 digs, for her ninth double-double of the year. Meredith Boe had a match-high 48 assists, while Paulson recorded a team-leading five blocks.
SLU followed up this victory with an impressive 3-0 sweep on Oct. 19 over visiting Fordham. The first and second sets were all SLU as SLU won the first 25-16 and the second 25-15. The third set was closer, 25-20, but still went the Billikens’ way. In the contest, SLU posted a team .308 attack percentage, while limiting Fordham to a .070 attack percentage.
Okoro was a standout performer in the match, displaying a great all-around performance with 13 kills, seven digs, and two blocks. She also posted a .393 hitting percentage in the sweep, to extend her double-digit kill streak to eight consecutive matches. In all of SLU’s 23 matches, Okoro has double-digit kills in 15, and averages the 10th-most kills per set in the A-10, at 2.99.
Paulson put in a strong performance on the defensive end for SLU, posting a match-high five blocks for the Billikens, to give her a season average of 1.10 blocks per set, and five or more blocks in three straight matches.
SLU will take their five-game win streak on the road next to Dayton, which is atop the conference standings. The match is pivotal to both teams, with Dayton hoping to solidify its position as conference leader, and SLU looking for a victory to set up a tight contest for the conference title.
