Sept. 18, 2009

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Saint Louis opened its own tournament with a three-set triumph Friday over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville volleyball.

SLU, now 5-5 and ranked No. 22 nationally, dispatched SIUE 25-9, 25-22, 25-15 at Chaifetz Arena. The Cougars will return to action Saturday at the Saint Louis Tournament with two matches, playing UC Davis at 1 p.m. and Toledo at 5 p.m.

SIUE, 0-13, came out slow against the Billikens, dropping the first eight points of the match before Sydney Winslow picked up SIUE's first kill of the match.

The Cougars recovered a bit in game two after recording just three kills in set one. SIUE was down 14-13 in set two before the Billikens made an 8-3 run to hold off the Cougars.

Winslow led SIUE with seven kills for the match. The Cougars recorded seven blocks, including three from Brittni Birkey.

Bridget Fonke led SLU with nine kills. The Billikens hit .349 as a team.

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