MATCH DETAILS
Saint Louis (14-13, 9-3 Atlantic 10) vs. VCU (18-11, 8-4 Atlantic 10) | Live Stats | Watch
Friday, Nov. 11 | 5 p.m. | St. Louis, Mo. (Chaifetz Pavilion)
Saint Louis vs. Davidson (10-16, 5-7 Atlantic 10) | Live Stats | Watch
Sunday, Nov. 13 | 1 p.m. | St. Louis, Mo. (Chaifetz Pavilion)
PREVIEW
Saint Louis wraps up the regular season with a pair of home matches. The third-place Billikens host the fourth-place VCU Rams on Friday. SLU then takes on Davidson at Chaifetz Pavilion for Senior Day on Sunday. The Billikens will honor the four seniors in a prematch ceremony.
LAST WEEK
The Billikens picked up a pair of big wins and Danielle Rygelski rewrote the SLU record book last week. Saint Louis defeated La Salle on Friday and Rygelski picked up her 1,000th career dig. She is the sixth Billiken to record 1,000 career digs and kills. SLU then defeated Duquesne on Sunday when Rygelski broke SLU’s record for career kills in the rally scoring era. She also notched seven aces, the third-best single-match total in SLU history. Rygelski earned A-10 Player of the Week honors for the sixth time for her efforts.
ABOUT THE BILLIKENS
Danielle Rygelski leads the NCAA with 5.92 kills per set and 6.70 points per set. She also is fifth in the NCAA with 50 aces this season. Camila Rivas (649 assists) is the team setter. On the defensive side of the net, Taylor Paulson(73 blocks) leads the way up front, while libero Mackenzie Long has recorded 357 digs (3.64 per set).
2016 ATLANTIC 10 CHAMPIONSHIP
Saint Louis will host the 2016 Atlantic 10 Championship in Chaifetz Pavilion next week, Nov. 18-20. For ticket information, call the Billiken Ticket Office at 314-977-4SLU.
ATLANTIC 10 POSTSEASON OUTLOOK
Entering the final week of the regular season, the Billikens are third in the Atlantic 10 race and have solidified a spot in the Atlantic 10 Championship. Dayton (12-0) leads the league, followed by Rhode Island (11-2), SLU (9-3), VCU (8-4), Duquesne (7-6), Davidson (5-7), Fordham (4-9), GW (3-10), George Mason (3-10) and La Salle (1-12). The top six teams in the conference make the Atlantic 10 Championship with the top two seeds earning a first-round bye. If the Billikens win one of their two remaining matches, Saint Louis will be locked into the three seed of the tournament.
CONFERENCE KILLER
Danielle Rygelski has been thriving in A-10 conference play. She has 6.64 kills per set, best in the conference by 1.87 kills per set. Rygelski also leads the Atlantic 10 with 0.71 aces per set.
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
In addition to her Saint Louis accolades, Danielle Rygelski is making history in the Atlantic 10 Conference. She has six A-10 Player of the Week awards this season, matching the A-10 single-season mark set by George Washington’s Chidima Osuchukwu in 2015. Rygelski has 10 A-10 weekly honors in her career, matching Osuchukwu for the most in conference history.
DANDY DANI
Danielle Rygelski has the best (31, vs. George Mason), second-best (29, vs. Davidson), fifth-best (26, vs. Illinois State) and 10th-best (24, vs. GW) three-set kill totals in the NCAA this season. She is second among all active NCAA DI athletes with 1,865 career kills and second on SLU’s all-time kill list. Rygelski has the most kills by a Billiken in the rally-scoring era.
DIRTY THIRTY
This season, there have been 44 30+ kill matches and four of them belong to Danielle Rygelski. Only three hitters in the NCAA have multiple 30-kill matches this season: Rygelski, Emma Longley of Appalachian State (2) and Krystal Rivers of Alabama (5). Additionally, only nine 30-kill matches have been completed in fewer than five sets, a feat achieved by Rygelski twice.
CAN YA DIG IT?
Libero Mackenzie Long recorded 394 digs last season, the fifth most for a sophomore in SLU history. She has 989 digs in her career and is on pace to become the 18th Billiken to surpass 1,000 career digs.
DUAL THREAT
Danielle Rygelski has recorded kill/dig double-doubles in 12 matches this season (second most in A-10). She is the sixth Billiken (and third in the rally-scoring era) to record 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs.
BLOCK PARTY
Taylor Paulson recorded nine blocks at Duquesne on Nov. 6. She is the first Billiken to notch nine blocks in a match since 2011. Additionally, Paulson recorded her 300th career block against Dayton on Oct. 28. She is the 11th Billiken to reach 300 career blocks
SCOUTING VCU
The Billikens topped the Rams in Richmond, Va. earlier this season. VCU is led by Julia Adler (2.44 kills per set) and Alica Kandler (2.43 kills per set), while Tyler Sroufe (7.44 assists per set) serves as the team’s setter. Rebekah Strange leads the Rams’ back row (4.35 digs per set), and Tori Baldwin is the top blocker (1.32 blocks per set).
SCOUTING DAVIDSON
The Billikens swept Davidson earlier this season. The Wildcats rely on the arm of Kelly Friers (2.49 kills per set) on the offensive side of the net. Mikayla Derochie leads the team with 642 assists (6.36 per set). On the defensive side of the net, Emily Franklin leads with 149 blocks, and Elise Edman has a team-leading 370 digs.
