Nov. 16, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Saint Louis and Temple advanced to the semifinal rounds of the 2007 Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championships at Halton Arena on Friday night in Charlotte. Top-seeded Dayton will face Temple at 5:30 p.m. in the first semifinal on Saturday, while Saint Louis will take on Xavier at 7:30 p.m. Winners will meet Sunday in the 1 p.m. Championship.

In the opening match, the Billikens dispatched George Washington in a three-game sweep (30-21, 30-23, 30-20). SLU (23-6) opened to a 7-1 lead in game one and never looked back. Four Billikens logged three kills in the opening frame as setter Whitney Roth distributed the ball around the offense. Roth had 12 of her 46 assists in the first game. Libero Whitney Behrens recorded 12 of her match-high 24 digs in game one.

"Anytime you get a win in the postseason it's special," said SLU head coach Anne Kordes. "I am very proud of my team and we're excited to move on to the semifinals."

GWU (13-17) made it closer in game two until Saint Louis went on a 7-2 run after a 12-all tie to get ahead and coast to the victory. Game three was also close until late when SLU put together a 6-0 run to extend a lead that the Colonials could not overcome.

"We played better against them than we did the first time this season," said George Washington coach Jojit Coronel. "I thought they put together some runs that we couldn't stop. My girls played really well and prepared well, but Saint Louis played well and transitioned well."

Sammi McCloud and Lauren Christman led all players with 12 kills each. GWU was led by Janine Brown's 10 kills and libero Maggie Wright's 21 digs. Setter Jess Buche had 27 assists in the match.

In the nightcap, a feisty Fordham team caught fire in the late going, but could not upend the East-Division champion Temple squad in a 3-1 decision (30-23, 30-22, 17-30, 31-29).

The Owls (15-17) overcame a dozen service errors and a negative attack percentage in game three. Yun Yi Zhang pounded 23 kills on the night. Both teams traded numerous service errors in a sloppy opening to the first game, but the Owls found their stride after a slim 13-10 edge. Temple ran off five of the next eight points to extend a lead they would not relinquish. The Owls hit at a .625 clip in the first game, with 22 kills and just a pair of errors in 32 attempts.

Game two saw the Owls jump out to a big early lead and cruise to the victory. Zhang and teammate Yue Liu had four and five kills, respectively, with libero Sun Ying Ying managing seven of her match-high 19 digs in that frame.

After the intermission, Fordham (15-20) came back with a response, holding Temple to a -.034 attack percentage, while getting a rhythm of its own for a .444 attack percentage game. Kailee May recorded five kills, with teammate Christi Griffiths knocked down four kills in the rout of the third period. Temple committed nine errors and logged only 10 digs in the game to get the Rams back in the match.

"In game one, we started slow and didn't serve tough and put pressure on them," said Fordham head coach Peter Volkert. "We really picked up our play in game three, which pushed through into the first half of game four. We need to hang onto that lead and maybe we can get it to a game five where maybe we have a 50-50 chance to advance."

Game four was as even as things would go all night, with the teams trading surges in the game. Fordham jumped out to a 15-7 lead and kept the margin at eight points to 19-11 before Temple mounted its comeback. The Owls reeled off eight consecutive points to tie the match at 19-all. Fordham against extended a four-point margin to 24-20, but the Owls tied again at 25. The teams traded kills until Temple could get the edge with a Zhang service ace while Patricia Vernon and Liu had consecutive kills to end the game and match.

"I knew we were going to have a great match," said Temple head coach Bob Bertucci. "Fordham did everything they needed to do to give us a hard time. We needed to keep our composure, especially in game three. Tomorrow, if we make the same kind of mistakes, the difference will be Dayton has a bigger team and is a lot less forgiving."

Vernon added 17 kills, with Liu putting up 12. Temple setter Jackie Morrison had 50 assists for the victors.

Fordham's Katherine Burrell also recorded 50 assists in the contest, with May reaching a team-best 16 kills and Griffiths contributing 15 on the night. Libero Lauren Fitzsimon had the team-high 12 digs.