St. John's University Athletics
2004 Red Storm Volleyball Season Review
10/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The 2004 St. John's volleyball team came out of the chute with a 13-5 start. The team finished as an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) regionally ranked team for the second straight year despite a tough second-half schedule, and finished 15-16 overall.
The start of the 2004 season saw a pair of major tournament victories. They won two events in September, the IPFW Invitational and the Colgate Classic, before embarking on the tough road ahead.
The tournaments were a chance for St. John's best players to shine. Jackie Ahlers took home the MVP award from both tournaments, as she posted 23 kills in the two-game, four-team tournament. Junior middle hitter Anicia Wood (6 kills, 9 blocks) and setter Lisa Tedder (45 assists, 19 digs) were named to the all-tournament team for their efforts in the IPFW Invitational.
Ahlers used the Colgate Classic as her own personal stage as well, finishing the tournament as its MVP as the Red Storm streaked to the title. Senior Yana Ruban and sophomore Nicole Colaluca joined Ahlers on the all-tournament team. In the finals against Princeton, Ahlers (35 kills), Colaluca (31 digs), Ruban (25 kills) and setter Lisa Tedder (68 assists) all broke their individual career records at St. John's, as they excelled in a pressure game to win the championship.
Head coach Joanne Persico-Smith then led her players through a tough schedule that included games against seven teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2003, including runner-up Florida in the second-to-last game of season.
Despite the tough schedule and many hotly contested matches (seven 3-2 losses), the team still bettered opponents in kills, assists, solo blocks, total blocks and digs.
The team's excellence in these areas led to many personal accomplishments for the women. Coach Persico-Smith, the only volleyball coach in St. John's history, recorded her 200th win in only her 11th season on September 28, when the Red Storm beat Iona on their home court, 3-1.
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| Head Coach Joanne Persico-Smith |
The most decorated of the players was junior outside hitter Jackie Ahlers, who was named AVCA All-American Honorable Mention, AVCA All-Northeast region team and All-BIG EAST first team. Ahlers broke her own St. John's and BIG EAST kill record from 2003, increasing her total to 646, up from 608 in 2003. Her kill total was almost twice as much as her next closest teammate (Yana Ruban, 330). She also led the BIG EAST in points with 701, 110 more then second place.
The team also got a boost from sophomore libero Nicole Colaluca. She set a St. John's single-season record for digs with 592, a 4.81 per game average. She just missed the single-game record when she had 37 digs in the October 10 game against West Virginia (three shy of Sarah McCrary's 2001 record), and in only two seasons had already climbed to fifth on the St. John's all-time digs list with 1,066. She finished 2004 fourth in the conference in digs per game.
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| Yana Ruban |
Freshmen also played a key role on the club, most notably setter Lisa Tedder. Tedder was voted BIG EAST Rookie of the Week in September after being named to the IPFW All-Tournament team. The rookie hardly played like one, finishing the season with 1,450 assists, enough for second all-time in one season at St. John's and finished second to Colaluca with 261 digs. Right side hitter and freshman LaToya Blunt was also impressive in her inaugural campaign, finishing third on the team with 306 kills.