Nov. 18, 2006

SAINT LOUIS OUTLASTS TEMPLE TO ADVANCE TO A-10 FINALS

Dayton, OH - Saint Louis overcame a near record performance by Yue Liu of Temple as the Billikens beat the Owls, 3-1 (30-26, 30-27, 26-30, 30-19) in the opening semifinal match of the 25th Annual Atlantic 10 Championships on Saturday at the Frericks Center on the campus of the University of Dayton.

SLU (21-8) advance for a chance at their first A-10 title on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. TU closed out its season with a 16-14 overall record despite 21 kills and 21 digs from Liu, an A-10 First Team pick.

Liu is the first player in A-10 Championship history to record at least 20 kills and 20 digs in a single match since Nov. 23, 2002. Ruth Lazzari finished with 22 kills and 20 digs in a four-game loss to Temple in the A-10 Finals.

"Temple's passing and serving was impressive and that made it important for our outsides to step up," 2006 A-10 Coach of the Year Anne Kordes of SLU said. "Angela Powers and our seniors had a hug night and helped carry us to the finals."

Powers, an A-10 First Team selection, hit .293 to finish with 23 kills and seven digs to lead the Billikens to a .230 to .153 advantage in hitting percentage overall.

Fellow A-10 First Teamer Tatayana Menshikova had 18 kills while A-10 Rookie of the Year Sammi McCloud added 14 kills, 15 digs and seven blocks. Sarah Entzeroth contributed 15 digs of her own while A-10 All-Rookie selection Whitney Roth had 13 digs and 65 assists as Saint Louis held a 74-52 lead in kills.

Temple supported a solid effort from Yue Liu with another double-double by A-10 Second Team pick Yin Sun Ling. The junior finished with 11 kills, 14 digs and two service aces on the night.

Yan Liu had 16 digs while Maira Mogollon added 37 assists for the Owls.

Both teams played led by as many as three points in an opening game of the match that featured 10 tied scored and two lead changes. Saint Louis prevailed with a 30-26 game one win behind a defense that created a .167 to .120 advantage in hitting percentage. Whitney Behrens led SLU with seven digs while Sarah Entzeroth and Jessica Poorbaugh added six each. Temple countered with five kills and 10 digs by Yue Liu, but could not overcome a Billiken front line that had 5.0 blocks to the Owls? 2.0.

The offense picked up for both sides in game two which resulted in a 30-27 SLU victory. The Billkens hit .362 as a team behind eight kills each from Angela Powers and Tatyana Menshikova. Saint Louis also ran an efficient offense behind 19 assists on their 22 kills from Whitney Roth. The Owls were led again by Yue Liu with six kills and two blocks. Ying Sun Ling hit .333 with four kills and a service ace as Temple tried to keep pace in a game with seven tied scores and two lead changes.

After the intermission, Temple took advantage of Saint Louis errors to take game three 30-27. The Owl defense forced the Billikens into 10 attack errors and rode the play of Yue Liu to six kills and six digs. TU also had three kills on seven swings from Ying Sun Ling with no errors.

The momentum would be short lived for the Owls as they dropped game four by a count of 30-19. Angela Powers paced the Billiken attack with nine kills in the final game alone as SLU hit at a .308 clip. Sammi McCloud added four kills and six digs as Saint Louis took the game by its largest margin of the tournament.

DAYTON HEADS TO A-10 FINALS FOLLOWING 3-0 SWEEP OF XAVIER

Top-seeded Dayton earned a chance to play for its fourth-straight Atlantic 10 Championship with a 3-0 (30-23, 30-25, 30-21) sweep of fourth-seeded Xavier in the Semifinals of the 25th Annual A-10 Volleyball Championship on Saturday at Frericks Center. The Flyers (22-8) will face Saint Louis (21-8) on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

UD was led by A-10 Second Team pick Robynne Green who hit .545 with 13 kills and five blocks. She was one of three Flyers to reach double figures in kills.

A-10 Player of the Year Faye Barhorst and A-10 First Team selection Jamie-Lee Richards had 12 kills. Barhorst added three blocks while Richards had four service aces and seven digs as Dayton won its seventh consecutive match in A-10 Tournament play.

Redshirt sophomore Erin Schroeder, the A-10 Setter of the Year, dished out 37 assists to go along with eight digs, three blocks and two service aces for the Flyers.

Junior libero Adrienne Green led UD with 17 digs as the Flyers out hit the Musketeers .289 to .160.

Xavier was paced by 10 kills and two service aces from Hillary Otte. Jenni Horvath added 19 digs while A-10 Second Team selection Jenn Welsh finished with 31 assists, nine digs, two service aces and four blocks for the Musketeers.

The Flyers went ahead 5-0 in game one and led from start to finish in a 30-23 opening-game victory. UD had a pair of near perfect performances from Robynne Green (5K-0E-7TA) and Faye Barhorst (4K-0E-9TA) as they hit .293 overall. Jamie-Lee Richards also finished with three service aces, which offset the entire Musketeer total for the opening game. XU countered with six kills on nine swings from Astyn Bjorklund, but it was not enough as Xavier would get no closer than a pair at 7-5.

Dayton used its defense to take a 2-0 lead in the match as it out hit Xavier .235 to .167 for a 30-25 game two win. Robynne Green continued her strong performance with three blocks while recording five kills on six attempts with no errors. UD added three more service errors to just one for XU including two by Erin Schroeder and one from Adrienne Green. The Musketeers were led by Hillary Otte with four kills in the second game on just six attacks.

UD continued to roll along as they closed the match with a 30-21 victory in game three. The Flyers out hit the Musketeers .326 to .102 with Jamie-Lee Richards stepping to the forefront. Richards hit .455 with seven kills, seven digs a service ace and a block in the third game alone to lead Dayton to victory. Jill Quayle tallied four kills for Xavier, but it was not enough to surpass a 5.0-1.0 deficit in blocks during the third game.