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A stunner in St. Louis

Posted by: Jeff Huth

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:24 PM

The Illinois volleyball team didn't stick around for the final match of the Billiken Invitational on Saturday, but maybe the No. 17 Illini should have. Don Hardin and Co. would have witnessed THE UPSET of the young season, as the same St. Louis team that lost in four sets to Illinois on Friday upset then-No. 3 Stanford about 24 hours later in four sets.
Beyond the sheer jaw-dropping magnitude of that outcome, the triumph holds particular interest to Hardin and long-time Illini volleyball fans. St. Louis coach Anne Kordes was an assistant on Hardin's UI staff from 1999 to 2003, during which time the Illini reached the NCAA tournament three times.
Kordes then moved to St. Louis, taking over a lifeless program that never had appeared in the NCAA tournament. By 2006, Kordes had changed that.
The tireless and enthusiastic Kordes also has caught the attention of the city's volleyball crowd. Consecutive seasons of 22 and 23 victories - along with that ‘06 NCAA trip - have given the program credibility. And by managing to schedule ranked opponents like Stanford and Illinois for a home tournament, Kordes signaled she's thinking big.
The public response was encouraging, with the Billikens moving the tournament from their usual home court to a much larger venue due to strong ticket demand. After drawing over 1,000 for its match against Illinois on Friday, a school-record 2,152 showed up for the tournament finale between the Billikens and Stanford. The fans' unexpected reward was the biggest victory in the program's history - and only the second triumph ever by St. Louis against a ranked foe.
The stunner wasn't enough to vault St. Louis into the coaches' Top 25 on Monday, although the Billikens did receive the second-most votes among the unranked.
Maybe it will happen next week. Certainly, Kordes' bunch has another couple of opportunities this weekend to catch the voters' eyes. The Billikens are headed to a tournament in Salt Lake City, where they'll face No. 15 Purdue and a Utah team that this week received the fourth-most votes among unranked teams.