Published: May 19, 2007
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam
Quote of the Day:Chung toi la
doi bong chuyen nu St. John’s!
(We are St. John’s!)
The St. John’s volleyball team will depart Ho Chi Minh City
tomorrow with silver medals around their necks as the squad took
second place at the 2007 Vietnam Television (VTV) Cup Fourth
International Women’s Volleyball Tournament. The Red Storm fell,
3-1 (26-28, 24-26, 31-29, 20-25), in a close and hard-fought match
to the national team of Vietnam Saturday evening. The two teams
battled it out in front of a crowd of 2,500 spectators.
Three members of the Red Storm earned all-tournament honors for
their impressive efforts this week. Libero Kathleen
Yee (Honolulu, Hawaii) received the most accolades as she was
named the tournament’s best receiver, best digger and best libero.
Hui
Ping Huang (Shanghai, China) was named best spiker, while
Wioleta Leszczynska (Bielsko-Biala, Poland) received best
setter honors.
Vietnam quickly took control of the first game, 4-1, on points
from Nguyen Hoa, Le Muoi and Pham Trang. The Red Storm kept the
score close with solid offense from Huang and Latoya
Blunt (Vacaville, Calif.) and strong defense from Yee. A block
from Huang and a kill from Valeria
Kovaleva (Moscow, Russia) brought the Red Storm within one,
22-21, and three straight kills from Dana
DeMayo (Ra’anana, Israel) tied the game, 24-24. The two teams
then went head-to-head through the next five rallies, but Ha Hoa
put the ball down to give Vietnam a 28-26 game one victory.
St. John’s and Vietnam started off game two just where they left
off, battling point-for-point. St. John’s tied the score, 7-7, on a
kill from Patti
Hardimon (Honolulu, Hawaii) and a block from Blunt gave the Red
Storm the one-point advantage. St. John’s then grabbed a
three-point lead on a block from Kovaleva and Huang, but Vietnam
knotted the score once again, 14-14, and then proceeded to take the
advantage. However, the Red Storm was not ready to give up and
rallied back to tied the score, 23-23, on a kill from Blunt. A kill
from Ha Hoa helped Vietnam win the second game, 26-24.
In game three, Vietnam pushed ahead on points from Muoi
and Hoa. A kill from Bui Thi Hue gave Vietnam a four-point lead
and, once again, St. John’s kept the score tight with successful
attacks from Leszczynska, DeMayo, Hardimon and Blunt. The Red Storm
battled back to knot the score, 21-21, on a kill from Blunt and
then steadily climbed to game point, 24-22. But back-to-back
service aces from Dinh Thi Dieu Chau tied the score, 24-24. With
the score knotted five more times after that, the Red Storm finally
broke away on a block from Blunt and Hardimon slammed the ball down
to give St. John’s a 31-29 third game win.
With Vietnam leading 2-1, St. John’s tried to take an early lead
but Vietnam was right behind them as the team’s fought through 14
rallies before Vietnam was able to pull ahead on a kill from Trang.
The Red Storm was not willing to give up yet and knotted the score,
15-15, on a service ace from Blunt. Shortly after, Vietnam created
a six-point gap for itself on points from Muoi and Hoa. The
Vietnamese national team closed out the match with a 25-20 fourth
game victory.
After the awards ceremony, taking pictures with fans and signing
autographs, the Red Storm returned to the hotel for a buffet dinner
with the national teams of Japan and Kazakhstan. St. John’s
presented their tournament host, Nguyen Le Thao, with an
autographed volleyball and bouquet of flowers to thank her for her
untiring help and support this week.
Tomorrow, the Red Storm will travel north to the capital city,
Hanoi for the final leg of its historic trip to Vietnam. Before
heading to bed, Hardimon checked in with RedStormSports.com to post
the team’s final journal entry from Ho Chi Minh City. To view her
postcard, click
here.
– Red Storm –