St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
RUTGERS *
St. John's Volleyball Sweeps Rutgers, 3-0
10/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's volleyball team defeated Rutgers, 3-0, Friday night at Taffner Field House in conference action. With the 25-20, 25-11, 25-13 win, the Red Storm remained in first place atop the BIG EAST with a 4-1 conference record, 13-7 overall, as Rutgers fell to 1-13 overall (0-5 BIG EAST).
Three players recorded double-digit kills for St. John's as senior Casie Brooks led all players in the match with 11 kills, while freshman Darlene Ramdin and senior Chen Chen each registered 10 kills apiece. Senior Wioleta Leszczynska had a match-high 48 assists to go along with six digs, while classmates Lena Yee and Valeria Kovaleva had the most digs on the night with 12 apiece. Kovaleva and sophomore Kun Song both recorded eight kills in the winning effort. Collectively, the Red Storm registered a season-high .451 hitting percentage, led by Kovaleva's .615, and kept Rutgers to just a .075 mark.
St. John's built up an 8-2 lead to begin the first set and Rutgers quickly burnt a timeout, as Brooks and Chen each recorded three kills early. After the breather, the Scarlet Knights fought their way back to within one point, 13-12, but the Red Storm slowed down the momentum by calling for a break. Back in action, STJ took four of the next six points to extend its lead to 17-14, forcing RU to use its second and final timeout. St. John's maintained the lead, picking up the 20th point on a kill by Ramdin to make it 20-16. A kill by Chen from Leszczynska ended the first set, 25-20.
The second set started exactly the same as the first, with St. John's working up an 8-2 lead and the Scarlet Knights calling an early timeout. The Red Storm came out of this timeout differently than in the first, however, as the team kept on attacking and expanded its advantage to 15-6 on a kill by Kovaleva. After Rutgers tallied three consecutive points to make it 15-9, STJ called its first timeout. The Red Storm grabbed three right back after the breather, and continued on to a 25-11 win, ending the set on a RU attack error. St. John's went into the locker room up 2-0 in the match.
The Red Storm roared out to a 14-4 lead in the third set, forcing Rutgers to use both its timeouts in the span. St. John's had an impressive .519 hitting percentage in the set and saw contributions from a number of substitutions. Junior Ruisa Scheffel picked up a kill, a dig and a block, while sophomore Kayla Motoyama registered one of her two digs on the night in the final set. Sophomore Diana Banya recorded two kills, including the match-clincher, as the Red Storm won the set, 25-13, and the match, 3-0.
For Rutgers, sophomore Caitlin Saxton led the team with eight kills, while freshman Kallie Pence had a team-high 21 assists. Junior libero Jamie Godfrey was the only Scarlet Knight to registered double-digit digs, as she picked up 10 on the night. Freshman Hannah Curtis registered a match-high three total blocks.
Up next for the St. John's volleyball team will be a home match against the Huskies of the University of Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 18. The match will be held in Carnesecca Arena, the Red Storm's first contest of the season in the newly-renovated venue. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
