SAINT LOUIS, Mo. – Illinois State volleyball fell to the Saint Louis Billikens in their final game of the Billiken Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The Redbirds leave Missouri with two wins, moving to 3-4 in the early portions of the 2024 season.
Sophomore Caitlyn Little and senior Mekaila Aupiu were named to the Billiken Invitational All-Tournament Team.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite the Redbirds hanging in throughout the whole match, Saint Louis defeated Illinois State in four sets: 23-25, 18-25, 25-16, 19-25
In set one, the two would be neck-and-neck all the way up to the media timeout as the Redbirds led 15-12 at the break. Out of the timeout, Illinois State remained in the lead, but Saint Louis rallied back and finished the set on a 5-2 run to take the 1-0 advantage.
The Billikens jumped out to a lead in the second set, scoring eight of the set's first nine points, forcing an early Redbirds timeout. Despite trailing by as many as nine throughout the remainder of the set, Illinois State remained resilient but could not overcome the SLU attack as the Billikens took set two, 25-18.
Saint Louis would pull ahead again in set three before a 6-0 scoring run by the Redbirds forced a Billiken timeout at 10-6. The Redbirds did not slow down as they built as big as a nine-point lead, forcing a fourth set with a 25-16 win.
The fourth set was closely contested at the start as Saint Louis ran away with a 10-3 run between 5-3 and 15-6. The Redbirds responded with a 6-1 run of their own to trim the lead to 16-12 and force a Billikens timeout. For the remainder of the set, Saint Louis remained ahead as the home team closed the set on a 9-7 run for a 25-19 win and the match.
ILLINOIS STATE STATS LEADERS
Kills: Aida Shadewald (15)
Digs: Sammi Bunch (22)
Assists: Mekaila Aupiu (33)
Service Aces: Aida Shadewald/Sammi Bunch (2)
Total Blocks: Hannah Reichensperger (3)
ILLINOIS STATE NOTES
- Illinois State (.275) was outhit by Saint Louis (.315)
- Junior Sammi Bunch reset her career high in digs with 22 on Saturday
- Freshman Khenedi Guest hit .600 with nine kills off 15 attacks and no errors
UP NEXT
The Redbirds return to action at the Panther Invitational, hosted by UW-Milwaukee, next weekend.
Illinois State will be in action with matches versus Saint Thomas (Sept. 13 at 11:00 a.m. CT), Milwaukee (Sept. 13 at 7:00 p.m. CT), and Iowa (Sept. 14 at 12:00 p.m. CT).
For all the latest on Illinois State volleyball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
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