St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Syracuse
Syracuse Defeats St. John's, 3-0, On Sunday Afternoon
10/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2010
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The St. John's volleyball team was defeated 3-0 (16-25, 23-25, 20-25) by in-state rival Syracuse in a BIG EAST Conference matchup on Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Red Storm falls to 13-9 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Juniors Paulina Piegza and Anzelika Lukjanska led the Red Storm (13-9, 0-5) with seven kills apiece. Piegza registered a team-high .308 hitting percentage in the match, while sophomore Ashley Asing added a match-high 11 digs. Junior Sabina Papala finished second on the team with a .286 hitting percentage.
Syracuse (20-2, 3-2) was led by Hayley Todd's match-high 14 kills, nine of which came in the opening set. Todd also hit .462 in the match, second to only teammate Lindsay McCabe's .556 percentage. SU setter Laura Homann added 40 assists.
Todd took control early in the opening set, enabling SU to jump out to a 14-7 advantage following her fifth kill. A nifty finesse shot from STJ setter Alyssa Bennett brought the Red Storm back to within six points, but Todd continued to shine as she put the finishing touches on the opening set with a crosscourt kill. Todd recorded nine of Syracuse's 19 kills as the Orange hit .445 in the opening frame.
SU carried its momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 4-1 lead over the Red Storm. St. John's fought back to an 8-6 deficit following a Papala kill off a nicely setup slide play, and would take an 11-10 lead shortly after following an Asing ace. The teams battled back and forth throughout the set, as a gently placed tip from Todd gave SU a 23-21 lead. With the Orange at set point in a crucial second set, Lukjanska and Piegza each hammered a kill down to cut the Orange's lead to 24-23, but a St. John's service error would put an end to the set as the Red Storm went down 2-0.
Syracuse used a 7-2 run to take a 19-10 advantage over the Red Storm in the potential match-ending set, but would quickly have its lead cut to 21-19 following a 9-2 run from St. John's. Lukjanska recorded two kills during the Red Storm's run. Todd put an end to the STJ run and would spark the Orange to finish the match on a 4-1 rally and take the third set, 25-20.
Bennett registered 26 assists for the Red Storm and junior captain Darlene Ramdin led the team with five blocks, all assisted.
The Red Storm will continue its road swing with a match at Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. The Huskies currently lead the all-time series 10-7 over St. John's and beat STJ in five sets a season ago.
