The Xavier Musketeers began Atlantic 10 play this weekend with a 2-0 start at Cintas Center, kicking off a weekend at home against the visiting Saint Louis Billikens on Friday night.
It was Luau Night at Cintas, and fans came in their best Hawaiian garb.
Despite an early setback that quieted the crowd, Xavier quickly rallied back to capture the match after their first set loss (15-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-15).
The Musketeers couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first set.
After falling behind quickly and recording a .026 hitting percentage, Xavier lost handily to the Billikens 25-15. The Muskies would not remain deflated for long, however. Coming out with a new spirit in the second set, the Musketeers built a six-point lead three different times to finally win the game 25-20.
Xavier kept their strong momentum going in the third and fourth sets, fending off a pair of SLU runs in the third game and easily defeating the Billikens in the fourth.
The quick turnaround in the match for the Musketeers was inspired largely by a more effective attacking game and an improvement in team blocking.
Juniors Kelsey Dunaway and Sarah Brown led the team with 11 and 14 kills respectively, while Aubree and Alex Smith finished the game with seven and six blocks, respectively.
Xavier played its next A-10 matchup the next day against the newcomer to the league in Butler.
The Musketeers made quick work of the Bulldogs, carrying their momentum from the previous night into the match to win it easily (25-17, 25-11, 25-19).
Musketeer scoring runs dominated the first two sets of the match. The Muskies jumped out to a quick 12-3 lead in the first set and went on a 13-4 run to close out the second set of the match.
Despite a Butler rally in the third set, Xavier eventually won the set 25-19 to close out the match.
Brown again led the team with 15 out of 41 Musketeer kills.
Xavier will take on Temple on Friday night in Philadelphia.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025