St. John's University Athletics
Volleyball Hosts Newly Named St. John's Kaiser Classic
9/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 8, 2011
QUEENS, N.Y. - Looking to defend its title at its annual tournament, the St. John's volleyball team will welcome in-state rival Buffalo and New England institutions Brown and Northeastern to the newly named St. John's Kaiser Classic this weekend. This season's tournament is being dedicated to current St. John's Athletics Director Emeritus and former Director of Athletics and head baseball coach, Jack Kaiser.
Coach Kaiser has been a part of the St. John's athletics family for nearly 60 years, first as a baseball, basketball and soccer player in the late 1940's, then as the baseball coach from 1952-1973, the Director of Athletics from 1973-1995 and currently Athletics Director Emeritus. He led teams to the College World Series as both a player and a coach, then went on to provide department-wide leadership as the Athletic Director for 23 years. An American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer, Kaiser co-founded the BIG EAST Conference and began the Red Storm volleyball program during his role as Athletic Director at St. John's.
After dropping a thrilling five-set match to Princeton on Wednesday, the Red Storm enters the tournament with an overall record of 4-3 and a 1-1 mark at Carnesecca Arena. Brown comes into the classic with a 2-2 record, while Buffalo is 3-3 and Northeastern is 4-2. St. John's is a combined 4-2 against the Bears and Bulls, and will play the Huskies for the first time in program history.
FOLLOW THE ACTION LIVE
• All six matches of the Kaiser Classic will be aired live on StormTracker All-Access with analysts Ralph Bednarczyk and Greg Rice on the call. As always, free live stats for every match will be provided by GameTracker. Fans can tune into the broadcast for a monthly fee of $9.95 or an annual subscription of $79.95.
• Fans can also keep up with all of the live action by following the St. John's volleyball Twitter feed @STJ_Volleyball or by searching the #stjvball hashtag. Remember to use both the #stjvball and #ncaavb hashtags throughout the 2011 season.
ST. JOHN'S KAISER CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 9
Buffalo (Home) vs. Brown - 6 p.m.
St. John's vs. Northeastern - 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 10
Northeastern (Home) vs. Buffalo - 9:30 a.m.
St. John's vs. Brown - 11:30 a.m.
Brown (Home) vs. Northeastern - 3 p.m.
St. John's vs. Buffalo - 5 p.m.
STORMWATCH
• 18-year head coach Joanne Persico, the only coach in program history, enters the match just five wins away from 350 total victories with a 345-210 overall record.
• Senior middle hitter Darlene Ramdin, who currently has 941 career kills and ranks eighth all-time in the category, needs just 59 to become the seventh member of St. John's 1,000-kill club.
• With four blocks against Princeton Wednesday night, Ramdin brought her all-time total to 306 career rejections, ranking her seventh all-time in the category. She is now just six blocks away from taking over sixth on the list and 19 from cracking the top five.
• Junior setter/libero Gabriela Petkova is currently ranked fifth in the STJ record books with 1,762 assists. With just 300 more helpers, Petkova will pass Lisa Tedder for fourth place on the list.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
• With her double-double performance against Princeton, senior outside hitter Brunna Kronbauer currently paces the Red Storm with 65 kills, 10 aces and a .278 hitting percentage (min. 100 attempts).
• Kronbauer's 0.43 aces per set currently rank eighth in the BIG EAST Conference.
• With a season-high 17 kills against the Tigers, Ramdin upped her season total to 62 kills, and is in a close second with a .276 hitting percentage.
• The Trinidadian also leads the team in blocks with 28 and ranks eighth in the conference with her 1.17 rejections per set average.
• Freshman outside hitter Aleksandra Wachowciz has totaled 59 kills on the campaign and is tied for the team lead with 10 aces. She also leads the squad with a 2.95 kills per set average and ranks third in the BIG EAST with 0.50 aces per set.
• Junior transfer Sabina Piegza leads the way with 146 assists and 7.68 assists per set average, while Petkova has recorded a team-high 84 digs.
INSIDE THE SERIES
• The Red Storm's opening match of the tournament against Northeastern on Friday night will be the first contest between the two programs.
• St. John's and Brown have met once in program history, with the Red Storm coming away with a straight-set victory 3-0 (15-11, 15-10, 15-11) on September 26, 1998. This will be the Bears first trip to Carnesecca Arena, as the match was played at a neutral setting.
• Although the series consists of only five matchups, in-state rival Buffalo and the Red Storm have built up quite the rivalry over the past 18 seasons. St. John's opened the series by taking the first three meetings, but recently the Bulls have had the upper hand, as they've won the matchup two years in a row.
• In 2009, Buffalo swept St. John's at the Cornell Invitational, and last season the Bulls came away with a hard-fought four-set victory, 3-1 (16-25, 26-24, 12-25, 17-25), at the annual UB Blue and White Classic. Senior outside hitter Anzelika Lukjanska had a team-high eight kills and 12 digs in the match and Ramdin earned all-tournament honors.
• This will be Buffalo's first visit to Carnesecca Arena.
SCOUTING THE NORTHEASTERN HUSKIES
• In his 12th year at the helm, Northeastern head coach Ken Nichols has a career record of 205-141 and has produced 10 winning seasons, including the past five years, and seven season of 19 wins or more.
• This season, the Huskies return nine letterwinners from last year's squad that advanced to the Colonial Athletic Association Championship match and have been picked to finish third in the conference.
• Northeastern enters the tournament on a two-match winning streak after defeating University of California Riverside, 3-2, on Sept. 3, and sweeping the University of New Hampshire on Sept. 6. The Huskies also have wins over Fairleigh Dickinson and Central Connecticut State, with losses to then-No. 20 University of San Diego and Missouri State.
• The Huskies have established a balanced attack in 2011, with sophomore outside hitter Kelly Bacon leading the way with 64 kills and her classmate Janelle Tucker following close behind with 56. First-year setter Jillian Briner and junior middle hitter Nicole Bishop have contributed 45 and 32 kills, respectively.
• Sophomore Ina Kamenova paces the Husky setters with 118 assists, while Briner has added 101 helpers.
• Freshman libero Natalia Skiba leads the defensive effort with 107 digs, averaging 5.10 per set, while Bishop paces Northeastern with 19 blocks
SCOUTING THE BROWN BEARS
• Brown head coach Diane Short is in her 16th year with the Bears and has made two NCAA Tournament appearances (1996, 1998) and claimed three Ivy League titles. Persico owns a 1-0 record against Short.
• Brown finished the 2010 campaign with a 9-17 overall record and three wins in the Ivy League.
• After dropping its opening matches to Sacred Heart and Rutgers, the Bears rebounded to defeat Hartford and Providence to even their record at 2-2.
• Freshman outside hitter Maddie Lord leads the Brown attack with 66 kills and sophomore Emma Pastore sits in second with 48.
• Sophomore setter Alexandra Rieckhoff has a team-high 172 assists through four matches for an impressive 10.75 per set average.
• Defensively, Annika Gliottone leads Brown with 107 digs for a 6.69 per frame average, while junior middle blocker Kathryn Glickman's 23 blocks, including seven solo, leads the team at the net.
SCOUTING THE BUFFALO BULLS
• Buffalo head coach Todd Kress is in his third season and has compiled a 37-35 record with the Bulls and owns a career record of 274-178 in 15 years at the Division I level.
• The Bulls enjoyed an 18-win season last year, the most since the 1996 campaign, and lost in the Mid-America Conference (MAC) Tournament Quarterfinals.
• This season, Buffalo topped BIG EAST affiliate Seton Hall, 3-0, Colgate, 3-2, and Youngstown State, 3-1. UB also lost a match to Colgate, and dropped matchups against Southeast Missouri State and Indiana. The Bulls come to Queens on a two-match losing streak.
• Buffalo trio of attackers Abby Niekamp, Dana Musil and Liz Scott lead the team with 65, 64 and 63 kills, respectively.
• Sophomore libero Kelly Svoboda leads the defensive efforts with 92 digs and a 4.0 digs pet set average.
• Sophomore middle blocker Carissa McKenna leads the blocking effort with 22 total rejections, while her classmate Dani Reinert has recorded an impressive 239 assists on the year for a 10.39 helpers per set average.
UP NEXT
• Following the event, the Red Storm will play its fifth and sixth match in a five-day span when it travels to the Bronx to compete in the final day of Fordham's Rose Hill Classic on Sunday, Sept. 11. STJ will face Colorado and Fordham to conclude the event.
• St. John's is 15-1 all-time against Fordham, including 10-straight wins, and will face Colorado for the first time in program history.
