The SLU Billikens won their Atlantic 10 Conference volleyball opener, Friday night against Fordham. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

NCAA Women’s Volleyball12345Final
Saint Louis (6-7, 1-0)2521222715(3)
Fordham (4-6, 0-1)192525254(1)

BRONX, NY — The Saint Louis University women’s volleyball team battled back from a two sets to one deficit to earn a 3-2 win over Fordham, in the Atlantic 10 Conference opener, Friday night at the Rose Hill Gymnasium.

Saint Louis won the first set, but then lost the next two, before rallying to win the fourth and fifth sets to claim the match. The eventual set final scores were 25-19, 21-25, 22-25, 27-25, 15-4.

SLU freshman Addy Brus, the current A-10 Freshman of the Week, proved to be the deciding factor in Friday’s match. The freshman outside hitter from Cincinnati, had a match-high 24 kills, including three in the final set, when attack errors plagued Fordham. The Rams had five attack errors and two service errors in the final set.

The Billikens took advantage and quickly jumped ahead 5-1. Then later, Saint Louis went on a 5-0 run to go ahead 11-3. The Billikens won the last four points of the match on a service ace and three attack errors by Fordham.

SLU hit .253 in the match and had 66 total kills. Grad student hitter Evelyn Fitz Hale also had a fine match for Saint Louis. She finished with 13 kills on 23 attempts for a sensational .556 hitting percentage.

SLU’s setting combo of Addie Lyon and Kate Aupperle combined for 52 assists and 19 digs.

Freshman Addy Brus had 24 kills in SLU’s five-set win over Fordham, Friday night. (Photo: Thomas Grove)

Fordham actually got off to a hot start when the match began and led 9-4 in the opening stanza. But Saint Louis rallied with a 13-3 run to go ahead 17-12.

From there, the teams played even, but the Billikens were able to close out the first set, thanks to an exclamation point kill by Brus.

The second and third sets were back and forth as well, but Fordham was able to sustain its rhythm and pulled away both times to take control of the match.

Fordham led most of the fourth set as well and was ahead 20-18 — just five points away from winning the match — when Saint Louis won four of the next five points to go ahead 22-21.

The Rams staved off four straight set points to tie the match at 24, then after SLU took a 25-24 lead, the home team held off another set point, before the Billikens were finally able to close out the set.

The fifth set was all SLU, as the Billikens lifted their season record to 6-7. Fordham fell to 4-6.

The teams will meet again on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.

2024 SLU BILLIKENS WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE

DateTimeAtOpponentLocationTournament
September 28, 2024 (Saturday)1 pm CTAwayFordhamBronx, N.Y.
October 1, 2024 (Tuesday)6 pmAwayLoyola ChicagoChicago, Ill.
October 4, 2024 (Friday)6 pmHomeDuquesneChaifetz Pavilion
October 5, 2024 (Saturday)2 pmHomeDuquesneChaifetz Pavilion
October 11, 2024 (Friday)5 pm AwayVCURichmond, Va.
October 12, 2024 (Saturday)11 a.m.AwayVCURichmond, Va.
October 18, 2024 (Friday)6 pmHomeDavidsonChaifetz Pavilion
October 19, 2024 (Saturday)2 pmHomeDavidsonChaifetz Pavilion
October 24, 2024 (Thursday)6 pmAwayRhode IslandKingston, R.I.
October 25, 2024 (Friday)5 pmAwayRhode IslandKingston, R.I.
October 29, 2024 (Tuesday)6 pmHomeLoyola ChicagoChaifetz Pavilion
November 1, 2024 (Friday)5 pmAwayGeorge WashingtonWashington, D.C.
November 2, 2024 (Saturday)1 pmAwayGeorge WashingtonWashington, D.C.
November 8, 2024 (Friday)6 pmHomeGeorge MasonChaifetz Pavilion
November 9, 2024 (Saturday)1 pmHomeGeorge MasonChaifetz Pavilion
November 15, 2024 (Friday)6 pmHomeDaytonChaifetz Pavilion
November 16, 2024 (Saturday)2 pmHomeDaytonChaifetz Pavilion
November 22, 2024 (Friday)TBANeutralA-10 ChampionshipDayton, OhioAtlantic 10 Championship