St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
DELAWARE
How Sweet It Is!
12/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y. - The 12th-seeded St. John's volleyball team is headed to Gainesville, Fla. for the program's first ever Sweet Sixteen after rallying to defeat the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens 3-1 (23-30, 30-28, 31-29, 30-23) Friday night at Carnesecca Arena. In front of a great crowd of 924 fans, the Red Storm had to play catch-up practically all night, but pulled it out in the end for the victory. With the win, St. John's improves to 33-3 overall on the season, while Delaware ends the season at 31-5.
Two players registered 20+ kills for St. John's, as Hui Ping Huang led all players with 24 kills and Latoya Blunt tallied her season-high 20 kills. Huang also had a team-best .500 hitting percentage to go along with 9 digs, while Blunt put up a match-high 7 total blocks. Junior Lena Yee also registered a season-high 30 digs. Senior Dana DeMayo recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs, and fellow classmate Wioleta Leszczynska dished out match-high 58 assists, along with 9 digs and 5 total blocks. Juniors Casie Brooks and Valeria Kovaleva had solid performances for St. John's as Brooks had 9 kills, 10 digs and 3 total blocks, while Kovaleva had 8 kills, 13 digs and two blocks.
The Red Storm dropped game one, 30-23, as the Blue Hens came out with a balanced attack and were led by Katie Dennehy and Michelle LaLonde who had six kills apiece. St. John's just could not get it going in the first game, as they hit .000.
St. John's had a great rally to overcome an 18-10 deficit to win game two. The Red Storm eventually tied the score at 24-24, thanks in large part to the play of Blunt, who picked up 6 kills in the game. Tied at 24-24, St. John's took a two-point lead on a service ace by DeMayo and a Delaware attack error, and forced the Blue Hens to use a timeout. After the quick breather, the St. John's sealed it with a kill by Blunt, 30-28. The two teams went into the locker room tied 1-1.
The game after the 10-minute break was the closest game of the night. The score was tied 17 times during game three, and the Red Storm came out on top in extra points, 31-29. St. John's had to play catch-up late in the game, as the team was behind 27-25. Three straight points gave St. John's the lead, then the points went back and forth, before two kills by Kovaleva and Blunt ended the game. Yee countered the Delaware attack with 11 digs in game three.
The Red Storm pulled ahead early in game four, using a 7-3 run to force the Blue Hens into their first timeout. From there the lead switched a number of times until 18-18. Yee went back to serve and on one service turn St. John's extended the lead to 23-18. After holding off a minor Blue Hens comeback, the Red Storm took the game 30-23 after a service ace by Huang. St. John's took the match 3-1
For the Fightin' Blue Hens, freshman Katie Dennehy led the team with 22 kills and a .512 hitting percentage. Senior Megan Welch finished right behind Leszczynska with 57 assists, while sophomore Stephanie Barry and junior Kelly Gibson finished with 27 and 26 digs, respectively. Sophomore Michelle LaLonde turned in a solid performance with 19 kills.
The Red Storm will travel to Gainesville, Fla. to take on the USC Trojans, who defeated Long Beach State, 3-2 (28-30, 30-24, 30-25, 21-30, 15-11) Friday night. The Sweet Sixteen match-up will be held next Friday, Dec. 7, at the O'Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida.
