St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Syracuse
Syracuse Tops St. John's Volleyball 3-2
10/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2005
QUEENS, N.Y. - Despite strong offensive efforts by the Red Storm, the women's volleyball team fell to the Orange of Syracuse 3-2 on Sunday afternoon. The game was the second time this season St. John's went to five games, while it was Syracuse's fifth. St. John's drops to 18-7, 4-4 in conference play, while Syracuse improves to 19-7, 7-2 in the BIG EAST.
Sophomore LaToya Blunt (Vacaville, Calif.) led the Red Storm hitting .383 and recording a match-high and personal best 24 kills. Hui Ping Huang (The Republic of China), coming off an impressive four game match against Marquette Saturday afternoon, added 18 kills and 12 digs. Freshman libero Kathleen Yee (Honolulu, Hawaii) led the back line with a match-high 15 digs.
The Red Storm took a 5-1 run in the beginning of the first game, before Cheryl Cobbina tied the game at 7 points. Battling point-for-point in most of the game, the Red Storm finally found a hole and took the advantage with two kills from Huang bringing the score to 23-18. A kill from Patti Hardiman (Honolulu, Hawaii) finished the first game for St. John's, 30-24.
St. John's tried to take an early lead once again in the second game, but Syracuse held strong and took the 9-7 lead with kills from Kristen Conway and Jen Malcom. The Red Storm brought the score within one several times but continued to trail as the Orange took the game, 30-25.
After the break, St. John's stormed into game three with a 3-0 lead, but the advantage was short-lived as Syracuse tied the game at the 7th point. Two kills from Huang gave St. John's a 16-12 edge over Syracuse. The game was tied once again at the 21st point but strong offensive efforts from Blunt gave the Red Storm a 30-27 win.
The Orange grabbed a quick 4-0 lead in the fourth game and increased it to 21-10 with kills from Aila Dommestrup and Kelly Duan. Efforts at the net from Shameka Mitchell (Lakeland, Fla.), Blunt and Huang could not help close the gap, as Syracuse sent St. John's into a deciding fifth game, 30-23.
Syracuse dominated the deciding game from the start taking a 2-0 lead off of Dommestrup and Kristen Conway. St. John's tied the game at 3 but was unable to do it again, as St. John's trailed for the remainder of the game. Conway closed the game and match with a high powered kill, 15-7.
Duan recorded 23 kills for the Orange, hitting .333, while libero Joscie Kaup notched 15 digs. Setter Dommestrup grabbed the match-high 59 assists.
The Red Storm returns to action with a pair of road games next weekend. St. John's first travels to Tampa, Fla. to face the Bulls of South Florida on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. Then on Sunday, Oct. 29, St. John's will head north to take on the Hoyas of Georgetown at 3 p.m.
For the most up-to-date information and statistics on St. John's Athletics, please visit www.RedStormSports.com, or call our hotline at 1-888-GO-STORM.
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