St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Volleyball Hosts Cincinnati And Louisville This Weekend
9/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2008
STJ vs. Cincinnati (Sept. 26, 7 p.m.)
STJ vs. Louisville (Sept. 28, 2 p.m.)
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's volleyball team begins BIG EAST Conference play this weekend when the squad plays host to Cincinnati on Friday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m. and Louisville on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 2 p.m. The matches will be held in Taffner Field House, as the Red Storm will begin defense of its back-to-back BIG EAST Regular Season titles.
Both matches will feature a live broadcast on RedStormSports.com as part of StormTracker All-Access presented by Allstate, with commentary by St. John's own Ralph Bednarczyk. In addition, live stats will be available via St. John's GameTracker.
STORMWATCH
- St. John's enters conference play with a 9-6 record and is coming off a 3-0 sweep, 25-13, 25-18, 25-14, over Stony Brook on Tuesday night at Taffner.
- The Red Storm has posted a 27-1 record in BIG EAST play in the past two seasons, the best record in the league.
- Senior Valeria Kovaleva leads the team with 3.15 kills per set and ranks second on the squad with 3.87 digs per game. Kovaleva was named to the BIG EAST volleyball weekly honor roll on Sept. 22 for her efforts at the Courtyard LaGuardia Volleyball Classic, hosted by LIU, where she earned tournament MVP honors.
- Senior Chen Chen has been the most accurate hitter for the Red Storm, as she has a team-high .311 hitting percentage (155-47-347). Classmates Wioleta Leszczynska and Lena Yee have been consistent in their respective roles for STJ. Leszczynska leads the team with 11.31 assists per set, while Yee is the leader of the defense with 4.44 digs per set.
- Kovaleva has a team-high nine double-doubles and Leszczysnka ranks a close second with eight. Senior Casie Brooks has six double-doubles and sophomore Kun Song rounds out the bunch with two.
- Freshman Darlene Ramdin leads the Red Storm at the net with 0.80 blocks per set.
- Head Coach Joanne Persico-Smith notched the 300th win of her career on Saturday, Sept. 20, with a 3-0 victory over LIU. Persico-Smith accomplished the task in 14-plus seasons since she started the volleyball program at St. John's in 1994.
Scouting the Bearcats
Cincinnati enters the weekend with a BIG EAST-best 10-3 record and is coming off a 3-0 victory over IUPUI at home on Tuesday. The Bearcats also swept all three opponents (Ball State, George Mason and Indiana) en route to taking the title at the IU Credit Union Tournament. In 2007, the Bearcats finished with a 19-12 overall record and finished fourth in the conference with a 9-4 mark.
Ninth-year head coach Reed Sunahara returns 11 letterwinners from last year's squad, including five starters and his libero. Leading the way for the Bearcats in 2008 has been sophomore Stephanie Niemer who has a team-high 3.70 kills per set. Fellow sophomore Annie Fesl leads UC with 10.88 assists per set, while junior Jamie Frey has a team-high 3.19 digs per set.
Friday's meeting will be the fifth all-time between St. John's and Cincinnati. The series is tied at 2-2, with the Red Storm winning the last contest, 3-1 (26-30, 30-18, 30-28, 30-23), on Oct. 7, 2007 in Cincinnati.
Scouting the Cardinals
Head Coach Leonid Yelin brings his squad into Queens with a 4-6 record on the season thus far. Louisville is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the Flyer Classic, hosted by the University of Dayton. UofL finished last season with a 22-8 record and tied St. John's for a share of the BIG EAST regular season title with a 13-1 conference record. The Cardinals competed in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, falling to Middle Tennessee, 3-2, in the first round.
Yelin returns eight letterwinners to this year's team, including four starters. Junior Justine Landi leads Louisville with 3.19 kills per set, while senior Jana Matiasovska checks in at second on the team with 3.07. Freshmen Gosia Lech and Renee Tomko are sharing the setting duties as Lech has 6.41 assists per set, while Tomko has 6.30. Sophomore Lindsey Mango leads the Cardinals defense with 3.31 digs per set.
Sunday's meeting will be the fifth meeting between the Red Storm and Louisville as both teams have won two matches from each other. The teams last met in the BIG EAST Championship Match on Nov. 18, 2007, with STJ coming out on top, 3-0 (30-24, 30-14, 30-26).
On Deck
The Red Storm will continue BIG EAST play on the road next weekend at Marquette (Fri. Oct. 3, 8 p.m. EST) and Syracuse (Sun. Oct. 5, 2 p.m.).
