St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
UC Santa Barbara
St. John's Volleyball Swept By UCSB, 3-0
8/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2008
BERKELEY, Calif. - The St. John's volleyball team was defeated by UC Santa Barbara, 3-0, on Saturday in the Red Storm's final match at the Cal Molten Classic. The scores of the match were 25-20, 25-20 and 25-21. With the loss, St. John's falls to 0-2 on the season as UCSB starts the year 1-0.
Senior Lena Yee registered a match-high 15 digs for the Red Storm and sophomore Kun Song led the team with 10 kills. Senior Chen Chen was a force at the net for St. John's with nine kills and five blocks, while classmates Valeria Kovaleva and Casie Brooks each recorded double-digit digs with 12 and 10, respectively.
In set one, the Gauchos jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead forcing St. John's to use its first timeout early. After the breather, the Red Storm got on the board with two straight points, but UCSB would build a 9-4 lead. STJ would fight back to within one point at 9-8 and a service ace by Brooks would give St. John's its first lead at 11-10. However, Santa Barbara would take six of the next seven points and after a block to make it 16-12 the Red Storm used its second timeout. St. John's came within two points after a kill by Song made the score 18-16 and the Gauchos used their first timeout. UCSB would hold on to the lead and win the first set, 25-20, on a Red Storm ball handling error.
Down 2-0 early in the second set, St. John's would bounce back to take a 6-3 lead. Santa Barbara fought back and on an out of rotation call against STJ would tie the score at 7-7. The Red Storm would take a timeout after the Gauchos went ahead 14-10. After the minute-fifteen, UCSB added three more before St. John's grabbed three straight to make the score 17-13. The Red Storm would not get closer than four points, as Santa Barbara took set two, 25-20.
St. John's would come out strong in set three, as the team built up a 10-5 lead and forced UCSB to use its first timeout. The momentum changed after the breather, as the Gauchos would come within one point at 11-10 and STJ would burn its first timeout to talk it over. Santa Barbara would tie the score at 11-11 and eventually take its first lead of the set at 13-12 on a kill. UCSB would take a 15-12 lead on a service ace and St. John's used its second timeout. St. John's would inch closer a number of times but the Gauchos were able to hold on for a 25-21 win and take the match 3-0.
For UCSB, junior Rebecca Saraceno had a match-high 13 kills, while senior Leigh Stephenson contributed with a team-high 12 digs. The Gauchos' setter, sophomore Dana Vargas, led all players with 25 assists.
Up next for St. John's will be a trip down the Bay Area to San Jose, Calif. There the Red Storm will square off against the Spartans of San Jose State on Monday, Sept. 1, at 1:30 p.m. EST.
