Jenni Gross' 17 Kills Helps Lift Dukes in 3-1 Upset of Saint Louis
Nov. 2, 2006
PITTSBURGH, PA - Duquesne played one of its best matches of the season handing Saint Louis (16-8, 8-2) just its second Atlantic 10 loss of the season with a 3-1 decision Thursday night at the A.J. Palumbo Center. Junior Jenni Gross led three Dukes in double-figure kills with 17 hitting a phenomenal .485 (17-1-33) for the match. She led the Dukes with four blocks as well. Sophomore Leah Mayo led the defense with 19 digs while freshman setter Chelsea Tillotson had 44 assists and 10 digs.
Tatyana Menshikova led Saint Louis with 34 kills and Whitney Behrens had a match-best 22 digs in the loss. The Billikens entered the match second in the A-10 west with an 8-1 record and had won seven of its last eight matches.
Saint Louis used 21 kills to take a 30-24 margin in game one holding the lead the entire time. Duquesne bounced back in game two hitting .268 (17-6-41) to take a hard-fought 31-29 margin in a contest which saw 12 ties and four lead changes.
Game three would be a near mirror-image with 12 ties and four lead changes as well as the Dukes again won 31-29. The Billikens overcame a 27-23 deficit in the third game to tie it up 28-28 and tied it again at 29-29 before Amanda Haeg's kill gave Duquesne a 30-29 edge and the Red & Blue would take a 2-1 lead after a Billikens hitting error.
The Dukes took the fourth and deciding game with a 30-23 victory hitting .355 (13-2-31) to SLU's .125 (15-10-40). The contest saw seven ties - the last being 16-16.
Haeg was second for the Dukes with 16 kills followed by Jessica Artman's 10 kills. Laura Kastein contributed 16 digs giving her 504 on the season which makes Kastein just the second Duke to surpass 500 digs in a season. Dana McLaughlin added 13 digs as well in the victory.
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Saint Louis held a 70-59 kills advantage, but was out-dug by the Dukes 72-65.
Duquesne closes out the home season Friday night hosting Rhode Island at 7:00 pm at the Palumbo Center. It is DU's Senior Night as Amanda Haeg will compete in the final home match of her Duquesne career.
