St. John's University Athletics
VOLLEYBALL WINS DARTMOUTH INVITATIONAL
9/25/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The championship was the third for the Red Storm this season, as they now own a remarkable 14-3 overall record. Freshman Robyn Kurasaki (Millinai, Hawaii) and senior Olga Roudovski (Brooklyn, N.Y.) were named to the all-tournament team, both for the third time this season. Roudovski now has 1,229 career kills and is only 26 shy of tying Kristine Knobel, '99 for the school record of 1,255.
Dartmouth jumped out to an early 7-2 lead in the first game before the Storm inched back into it. The Storm rallied to tie the game at 11-11 and from there outscored the Big Green 4-1 to take the first game.
In the second game, St. John's regained their old form and scored the first seven points of the game and went on to win 15-4. SJU used a 5-0 run to start the third game, before Dartmouth came to life and closed the gap to 9-6. The Storm scored three straight points to increase their lead to 12-6, and closed out the match from there with scrappy defensive play and timely hitting.
Senior Aleeza Miller (Los Angeles, Calif.) keyed the Storm offense with 13 kills. Sterie Varghese's (Elmont, N.Y.) outstanding hustle saved the Storm on numerous occasions as she tallied a career-high 17 digs. Kurasaki racked up 29 assists to go along with 13 digs.
In the first match on Saturday, the Storm swept Quinnipiac in three straight (15-1, 15-6, 15-9) for their 13th win of the season. The sweep was the fifth in a row and ninth on the year for St. John's as Quinnipiac fell to 0-8 on the season. Roudovski led St. John's with 13 kills, seven digs and nine service aces. Roudovski's nine aces ties the school record, previously held by Lynn Klein, '96, who also served up nine aces against Holy Cross in 1994. Junior Kristy Mercein (East Meadow, N.Yled the defense with 11 digs to go along with five kills and four aces in the victory. Sophomore Meaghan Creedon (Rohnert Park, Calif.) added four kills while sophomore Emily Blosser (Pataskala, Ohio) totaled nine assists and three kills, all in the third game of the match.
The Storm squared off with the Maine Black Bears in the first match of the Invitational on Friday and earned their 12th win of the season in a 15-3, 15-6, 15-10 sweep. Maine dropped to 4-6. Roudovski and Amanda Berg (DeKalb, Ill.) led SJU with 11 kills apiece while Miller added seven. Kurasaki assisted on 24 kills while tallying five of her own. Roudovski and Kurasaki led a strong defensive effort with 10 and nine digs, respectively.
The Storm will be back in action on Tuesday, September 26 when they travel to the Bronx to face cross-town rival Fordham in a non-conference match at 7:00.
