Sept. 7, 2008

ST. LOUIS - The Saint Louis volleyball team scored the biggest win in program history on Saturday evening when it upset No. 3 Stanford 27-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22 in front of a record crowd of 2,152 fans in the final match of the Billiken Invitational presented by Front Door LLC in Chaifetz Arena. The Billikens, who defeated a ranked opponent for only the second time in program history, improved to 5-1 with the victory while the Cardinal falls to 4-2.

"This is probably the most excited I've ever been about a group of volleyball players," SLU head coach Anne Kordes said. "This is a group that loves each other, works hard and has a passion for the game. What can I say about this match? It was just an incredible performance by a group of players who believe in each other. I think a big key to the match was that we were relaxed. We had contributions from everybody. Sammi McCloud had an incredible match, and Whitney Roth ran a great offense. I'm just so proud of this team for how hard they've worked and what they accomplished tonight."

After trailing for much of the first set, the Billikens came from behind to pull off a stunning upset. Stanford scored the first four points before SLU even got on the board. SLU scored the next three points to trim the margin to one. The Cardinal held Saint Louis at a few points disadvantage early before increasing its lead as many as six points mid-set. The Bills continued to chip away at the margin, scoring three consecutive times on Stanford mistakes to make it 20-18. Following a Cynthia Barboza kill, Sally Warning posted a kill and McCloud recorded back-to-back kills to even things up at 21-21. The teams tied at points 22 through 25 before SLU forced a Stanford hitting error and McCloud, who had a set-high eight kills, served an ace to escape with the win.

The Cardinal was up 5-2 in the second set before SLU got consecutive kills from McCloud, Megan Boken, Lauren Christman and Boken again to go up 6-5. But Stanford was poised and regained the lead on three straight SLU hitting errors. The Cardinal earned the lead for good when Cynthia Barboza and Alix Klineman recorded back-to-back kills for a 17-15 advantage. SLU got no closer than four points after that as the Cardinal, which out-hit SLU .268 to .173 in set two, knotted the match at one set apiece.

Saint Louis and Stanford traded points early in the third set with the Bills gaining a slight edge after a 6-6 tie. SLU pushed the lead out to four on kills from Bridget Fonke and Boken and a Fonke service ace. But Stanford would not go away as it chipped away at the lead and eventually tied things up at 15-15. The Cardinal pushed ahead on a kill and a SLU hitting error but a Warning kill and a Cardinal hitting miscue tied things up again at 18-18. Then SLU went ahead to stay as Roth served four straight points to put her team up 22-18. Stanford cut it to one at 23-22 following a kill and an ace from Erin Waller and a SLU hitting error. However, Warning and McCloud notched back-to-back kills to put SLU up 2-1.

In the final set, Stanford scored five straight points early to run out to a 9-3 lead. But Saint Louis scored the next five points to cut the margin to one at 9-8. The squad traded points before the Billikens knotted the score at 10-10 on a Fonke kill and Cardinal hitting error. Stanford and SLU tied at points 10 through 14 before Stanford again edged out in front on consecutive kills. Down 18-15, SLU scored three straight points to knot the score again at 18-18. After falling behind 20-18, Fonke posted back-to-back kills to make it 20-20. A kill from Warning and another from Fonke and a Cardinal hitting error made it 23-20. The teams traded service errors to make it 24-21 before Stanford cut the margin to two on a Billiken hitting error. Warning ended the suspense with a kill to give SLU its biggest win in program history.

Three SLU players recorded double-doubles in the match. McCloud, who was named to the All-Tournament team along with Roth, led the Billikens with a match-high 19 kills and completed a double-double with 14 digs. Fonke also recorded a double-double with 15 kills and 12 digs, while Boken finished with 15 kills and 11 digs. Libero Whitney Behrens led SLU with 17 digs, while Warning notched 14 kills and a match-best seven blocks. Roth dished out 56 assists to go along with nine digs.

Barboza led the Cardinal with 12 kills and 13 digs, while Klineman chipped in 10 kills. Libero Gabi Ailes recorded a match-high 24 digs, while Cassidy Lichtman narrowly missed a triple-double with 30 assists, 12 digs and nine kills. The Billikens had 68 kills while Stanford managed 56, and SLU out-hit the Cardinal .273 to .252.