St. John's University Athletics
St. John??' Volleyball Announces 2007 Schedule
7/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
- Schedule: Web | Printable (PDF)
- Preseason Quick Facts (PDF)
The 2006 BIG EAST Coach of the Year Joanne Persico-Smith announced the volleyball team???s 2007 schedule Wednesday. The Red Storm will face seven teams that competed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament and four programs that were ranked or received votes in the final AVCA/CSTV Top 25 Coaches poll.
???We have an extremely challenging schedule ahead of us,??? said Persico-Smith. ???We will be on the road a lot and will find out early on what we???re made of. Playing teams like USC, Penn State and Long Beach State in the early season tournaments will help us prepare tremendously for BIG EAST action.???
The Red Storm will host 10 of the squad???s 31 regular-season matches at Carnesecca Arena. Included on the home slate are six BIG EAST Conference contests and the 2007 STJ Volleyball Invitational that will feature New Jersey Institute of Technology, Virginia Tech, Fairfield and Long Beach State.
???After such a great season in 2006, it is going to be much more difficult to sustain and improve on that success,??? said Persico-Smith. ???But our players are ready to be tested once again.???
St. John???s enters its 2007 campaign after compiling its best season in program history, posting a 31-5 overall record and earning its first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round with a 3-1 victory over Albany. St. John???s also earned its first national ranking last fall as it appeared in the polls at No. 24 and brought home the squad???s first-ever BIG EAST regular season crown, as the Red Storm posted a perfect conference record, 14-0.
St. John???s begins the fall on the West Coast at the Trojan Invitational hosted by the University of Southern California on Aug. 24-25. While at the event, St. John???s will compete against Loyola Marymount, Michigan State and USC. On Aug. 31-Sept. 1, St. John???s will host the 2007 STJ Volleyball Invitational.
For its third tournament, the Red Storm travels to Pennsylvania for the Penn State Classic on Sept. 7-8. St. John???s will battle Virginia Commonwealth, Colgate and Penn State. The Red Storm concludes non-conference tournament action at the Indiana University Invitational on Sept. 14-15. The squad will play North Carolina Central, East Tennessee and Indiana over the weekend.
In individual non-conference action, St. John???s will visit Central Connecticut State on Aug. 29, Stony Brook on Sept. 4 and Fordham on Sept. 18. Meanwhile, on Sept. 11, the Red Storm will look for its third straight title against Long Island rival Hofstra at the sixth annual Queens/Nassau Cup in Hempstead, N.Y.
The Red Storm begins BIG EAST play on the road against the Pirates of Seton Hall (Sept. 21) and the Wildcats of Villanova (Sept. 23). The following weekend, St. John???s returns home to host Pittsburgh (Sept. 29) and West Virginia (Sept. 30). The Red Storm takes to the road again to battle the Cardinals of Louisville (Oct. 6) and the Bearcats of Cincinnati (Oct. 7), then makes its way back to the tri-state area to play the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers (Oct. 12) and the Huskies of Connecticut (Oct. 19).
St. John???s returns home to host DePaul and Notre Dame on the weekend of Oct. 26 before closing out its home season against Syracuse and Marquette on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4, respectively. The Red Storm will play its final matches of the season on the road at Georgetown (Nov. 9) and South Florida (Nov. 11).
The 2007 BIG EAST Championships, hosted by Marquette, will be held on Nov. 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wis. A potential second NCAA tournament for St. John???s will begin on Nov. 29 on campus sites. NCAA Regional action will be held on Dec. 6-9, with the Final Four and Championship matches on Dec. 13 and Dec. 15 in Sacramento, Calif.
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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