St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Volleyball and Vietnam National Team Battle For 2007 VTV Cup Title
5/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
- St. John's Volleyball Travels To Vietnam
- Postcard: Greetings From Vietnam, Part VIII
The St. John???s volleyball team served up its fifth three game sweep of the 2007 Vietnam Television (VTV) Cup Fourth International Women???s Volleyball Tournament as it defeated Shikoku Eighty 8 Queen from Japan, 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-22) Friday evening.
With the win the Red Storm advances to the final match of the 2007 VTV Cup and will battle the national team of Vietnam for the championship. First serve is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. local time, 6:30 a.m. in New York. Vietnam advanced to the final match with a 3-0 victory over Zetyssu of Kazakhstan.
St. John???s and Japan went head-to-head in the beginning of the first game before Shikoku Eighty 8 Queen took the lead on a block from Ayana Ida. Japan continued to push ahead but the Red Storm remained close and tied the game, 11-11, on a block from Hui Ping Huang (Shanghai, China) and Valeria Kovaleva (Moscow, Russia). A kill from Dana DeMayo (Ra???anana, Israel) gave St. John???s a one-point lead, 13-12, and the squad never looked back and they cruised to a 25-17 victory on a kill from Patti Hardimon (Honolulu, Hawaii).
In the second game, Japan tried to take control quickly with a 3-0 lead on points from Mari Hirayama and Megumi Otsuki. St. John???s answered back tying the score, 4-4, on Japanese errors. Back-to-back points from Latoya Blunt (Vacaville, Calif.) gave the Red Storm a three-point advantage, 7-4. St. John???s continued to control the game on successful attacks from Hardimon, Huang and Kovaleva. A block from Kovaleva ended game two, 25-13, in the Red Storm???s favor.
Hardimon slammed the ball down to open game three in St. John???s favor. However, Japan was not going to give up quite yet and battled point-for-point with St. John???s. A kill from Blunt tied the score, 6-6, and a block from Huang put the Red Storm up by two, 8-6. Japan kept the score close but was unable to tie the score. The squad came within one five times before knotting the score, 18-18. Once again the two teams went head-to-head. A kill from DeMayo finally put the Red Storm up by one, 23-22, and a kill from Hardimon brought the game to a close, 25-22.
Huang led the Red Storm with 16 total points (nine kills, six blocks, one ace); while Blunt tallied 13 points (eight kills, five blocks). Libero Kathleen Yee (Honolulu, Hawaii) posted a match-high nine digs, while Leszczynska dished out an impressive match-high 30 assists.
For Shikoku Eighty 8 Queen, Hirayama registered nine points (eight kills, one block); while Otsuki recorded seven digs and Marina Kasamatsu posted five kills.
At the end of day six, St. John???s had five athletes ranked on the tournament???s best scorers list (No. 3 Huang, No. 8 Blunt, No. 11 Hardimon, No. 29 Kovaleva, No. 30 DeMayo). Huang continues to hold onto the No. 2 spot on the best spikers list, while also entering the best blockers list at No. 5.
The 2006 BIG EAST Libero of the Year Yee remains the No. 1 best digger and No. 1 best libero of the tournament, while Hardimon moves up one stop on the best receivers list (No. 2). On the best setters list, Leszczynska maintains her status at the tournament???s No. 1 setter.
Before heading to bed, sophomore Yee checked in with RedStormSports.com to post the team???s eighth daily journal entry. To view her postcard, click here.
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