SLU Women’s Volleyball could not continue its five-game winning streak with a 3-1 loss to conference leaders at Dayton’s home stadium, the Frericks Center. The loss to a strong Flyers squad puts SLU at a 6-3 Atlantic 10 Conference record, with a 17-7 overall record, while Dayton improves to 8-1 in the conference with a 21-5 overall record.
The first set was closely contested, with SLU eventually losing the set 27-25. Although Dayton led throughout most of the set, SLU took a its second lead late in the set, with a score of 24-25 to SLU. In the end however, Dayton responded with three straight points to close out the set.
The second set was the opposite of the first, with Dayton coming out on top by 11 points in a set where they were ahead nearly the entire way. The second set saw Dayton post their highest team attack percentage, .438, along with a sideout percentage of 71. The set resulted in SLU’s worst set according to the numbers, with a team attack percentage of only .121 and a sideout percentage of 40.
However, SLU came out looking like a different team following the break. Though the set was even until both teams were tied at a score of 11-11, SLU scored five straight points on some strong serves from freshman middle blocker Lauren Leverenz and three kills by sophomore outside hitter Danielle Rygelski. Dayton closed on SLU within two points at 17-19, but SLU utilized a 6-2 run to close the set out 19-25. The set saw Rygelski provide SLU six kills total.
Despite a strong showing in the third set, SLU could not build on the momentum and lost the fourth set and consequently, the match. Despite leading 8-12 in the set, and later leading 17-18, Dayton scored five straight points after the score was 17-18 to push the score to 22-18. From there, Dayton quickly won the set 25-22.
Despite the loss, several Billikens put on strong performances. Rygelski led SLU with 19 kills, while freshman outside hitter Nenye Okoro posted 17 kills and 12 digs, for her 10th double-double of the season. Meanwhile, junior setter Meredith Boe put in a team-high 53 assists, good for her 7th game of the season with 50 or more assists. Boe also had 15 digs, which resulted in her gathering her sixth double-double of the season.
Junior libero Anna Church reached a career milestone at the Dayton match. She became the 16th Billiken to corral 1000 career digs, and surpassed Whitney Roth, who posted exactly 1000 digs from 2006 to 2009, to became 15th all-time player in digs at Saint Louis University. The all-time leader in digs is Whitney Behrens, who posted 1,685 digs during her Saint Louis career.
The Billikens will travel again for a Halloween matchup against Davidson College in Davidson, NC. Although Davidson has only one win in the A-10 this season, and currently occupies last place in the conference, their one win came against SLU at Chaifetz Pavilion.
The Billikens will be looking for revenge against Davidson, along with a chance to separate themselves from the pack of 6-3 teams in the A-10 and catch up to 8-1 Dayton. Following Davidson, SLU takes on VCU on Nov. 2.
