Published: September 01, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y.
The Red Storm volleyball team defeated its first
nationally ranked opponent of the season, when they gritted out a
3-1 win over No. 24 Long Beach State Saturday night (31-29, 30-26,
27-30, 30-26). With the win, St. John’s captured first place in the
2007 STJ Volleyball Invitational with a perfect 4-0 record. The
win, combined with a win over Fairfield earlier in the day, puts
St. John’s at 7-1 overall on the season and bumps the Long Beach
State 49ers to 2-3.
Tournament MVP, senior Hui Ping
Huang had an extraordinary match, leading the Red Storm with
a match-high 20 kills, she also had a .552 killing percentage.
Junior Valeria Kovaelva matched a
season-high 16 kills, and senior Wioleta
Leszczynska, who was also named to the All-tournament team,
had a match-high 68 kills. Also key contributors to the Red Storm’s
victory were seniors Latoya Blunt and
junior Casie Brooks. Blunt had 13
kills and a team-high 5 blocks, while Brooks recorded a career high
13 kills and 11 digs and had the squad’s only double-double of the
match. Junior Lena Yee also was key to
the St. John’s victory with a match-high 14 digs.
The Red Storm used a .468 hitting percentage and 27 kills to
take down the 49ers in game one. Kovaleva led the way with 8 kills.
There were 12 lead changes in the game and the score changed six
times. The two teams battled back and forth towards the end of the
game, eventually having to go to more points for the victory. Tied
at 29-29, Casie Brooks ended the game with two straight kills,
giving the Red Storm a 31-29 game one.
The second game of the match was just as tight game one The Red
Storm built up a 15-9 lead, but the 49ers battled their way back to
tie the game at 22-22. St. John’s regained the momentum in the game
after a pair of attack errors by the 49ers, a kill by Leszczynska,
and a pair of service aces by Huang. This five-point rally gave St.
John’s enough momentum to secure game two, winning 30-26, and going
up two games to none in the match.
Game three was another tightly played game, as neither team was
able to establish a lead of more than four points, Long Beach State
used 19 kills and a match-high six blocks to come out with a 30-27
victory, pulling within one game of the Red Storm and gaining
momentum in the match.
Long Beach State used the momentum from game three to build an
early 10-5 lead in the fourth game. St. John’s, however, fought
back with a 13-4 rally that gave them an 18-14 lead. Huang spark
the Red Storm’s rally, recording five kills and a service ace. Long
Beach State did not wither and battled their way back to tie the
score at 20-20. After a kill by Leszczynska, the Red Storm gained
the lead for good, and an attack error by the 49ers gave St. John’s
the win, 30-26, taking the match 3-1.
For the 49ers, senior Alexis Crimes had a team-high 17 kills and
junior Nicole Vargas recorded 59 assists. Crimes, along with
teammate Michaela Hasalikova were named to the STJ Volleyball
invitational All-tournament team. Also making the team, were
Virginia Tech’s Jen Albrecht and Fairfield’s Katie Mann.
In earlier action, the Red Storm defeated the Fairfield Stags in
a 3-0 sweep (30-23, 30-26, 30-24). Senior Dana DeMayo had a match-high 14 kills,
Leszczynska had a match-high 45 assists, and Yee had a match-high
16 digs.
The Red Storm returns to action on Tuesday, Sept. 4, when the
team travels to Stony Brook University to take on the Seawolves.
First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
- Red Storm -