St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Hits The Road For Pittsburgh, USF
10/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 18, 2012
- Game Notes
- STJ vs. Pittsburgh: / Comcast Network
- STJ vs. USF: GameTracker / Live Video
- Follow St. John's Volleyball on Twitter
- Download the 2012 Record Book
- 2012 Statistics
QUEENS, N.Y. - Currently in fifth place in the league, St. John's (17-6, 4-3) will look to move up in the standings when it hits the road for Pittsburgh (12-10, 3-5) and USF (12-9, 4-4) this weekend. The Red Storm began conference play with four-straight victories, the program's best start since 2007, but has dropped its last three matches to No. 15 Louisville, Notre Dame, and Cincinnati.
The Red Storm will take on the Panthers on Friday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. and the Bulls on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. The match against Pittsburgh will air on The Comcast Network. Comcast digital customers living in Western Pennsylvania and parts of Central Pennsylvania can tune into the match on channel 188 or 210.
St. John's will be looking for its first win over the Panthers since 2008. The Red Storm is 5-14 all-time against the Panthers and 2-7 when facing them on the road. In last season's matchup, Pittsburgh defeated St. John's in five sets at Carnesecca Arena.
The Red Storm is 8-3 all-time against the Bulls, but is 2-3 when facing them on the road. Last year, St. John's lost to USF in five sets in Tampa, Fla. However, the Red Storm has defeated the Bulls in three of their past five meetings and has swept USF in six of their 11 all-time meetings.
FOLLOW THE MATCHES LIVE
- Live stats and video will be available for both matches.
- Pittsburgh: / Comcast Network
- USF: Live Stats / Live Video
- 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.
- Pittsburgh: / Comcast Network
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
- Pittsburgh split last weekend's matches at home, defeating Georgetown and losing to Villanova. Both matches went four sets.
- The Panthers are currently in tenth place in the league with a 3-5 record.
- A two-time member of the BIG EAST Honor Roll, sophomore setter Lindsey Zitzke ranks 22nd in the NCAA and third in the conference in assists per set (8.50). She is also in ninth place in the league in assists per set (8.50).
- Senior libero Margy Acton is sixth in the conference in digs per set (5.14).
- As a team, the Panthers are second in the BIG EAST in aces per set and fifth in the conference in digs per set (16.59).
SCOUTING THE BULLS
- USF won both of its matches at home last weekend, sweeping Villanova and topping Georgetown, 3-2.
- With a 4-4 record, the Bulls are currently tied with Seton Hall for seventh place in the BIG EAST.
- Freshman outside hitter Erin Fairs was named last week's BIG EAST Freshman of the Week after posting double-doubles against Villanova and Georgetown. She is currently second on the squad in kills per set (2.55) and third in digs per set (2.41).
- Senior middle blocker Caitlyn Breen is fifth in the league in blocks with a 1.13 per set average.
- Sophomore outside hitter Valerie El Houssine ranks sixth in the BIG EAST in service aces per set (0.35). She is also the squad's leader in kills per set (2.58).
- As a team, the Bulls rank fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.174), fifth in assists per set (12.62), and third in blocks per set (2.32).
SERVING IT UP
- Freshman Karin Palgutova ranks fifth in the NCAA and first in the BIG EAST in service aces with a 0.52 per set average.
- As a team, St. John's ranks 22nd in the nation and first in the conference in service aces with a 1.58 per set average.
- Freshman Shawna-Lei Santos joins classmate Palgutova amongst the BIG EAST leaders in service aces with 0.28 per set average, which is good for eighth place.
HOW ST. JOHN'S STACKS UP AGAINST THE REST
- St. John's ranks fourth in the league with a .229 hitting percentage. Senior Milica Krstojevic has the eighth-best hitting percentage (.333).
- Krstojevic has tallied the second-highest single-match hitting percentage of all BIG EAST players this season. In a sweep of St. Francis on Sept. 8, she racked up 12 kills on 14 attempts with just one error for a .786 percentage.
- St. John's is holding its opponents to a BIG EAST-best .140 hitting percentage, which is .020 points lower than second-place Seton Hall.
- With a 1.58 aces per set, the Red Storm leads the conference and is 22nd in the NCAA. Palgutova's 0.52 per set average ranks second in the league, while freshman Shawna-Lei Santos is in eighth place with a 0.28 average.
- Senior Sabina Piegza is sixth in the BIG EAST in assists per set with a 9.45 average. Last season, Piegza finished tenth in the conference with a 9.19 assists per set average.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
- On Friday, Oct. 12., senior libero Gabriela Petkova passed Robyn Kurasaki to move into fifth place on the St. John's all-time digs list during a five set loss to No. 15 Louisville
- She had 20 digs in the match and now has 1,182 in her career.
- Petkova, who played primarily as a setter during her first two seasons, is also in fourth place on the all-time assists list.
- The libero passed Lisa Tedder on the all-time assists list during a 3-1 win at Central Connecticut State on Aug. 31. She currently has 2,101 assists in her career.
STORMWATCH
- During the fourth set of the match against Notre Dame on Oct. 7, senior setter Sabina Piegza passed Casie Brooks to take over seventh place on the all-time assists list.
- Piegza, who now has 1,514 career assists, needs 102 more helpers to pass Casey Coghlan for sixth place.
- After transferring from Western Nebraska C.C. in 2011, Piegza compiled 758 assists in her first season with St. John's.
- Piegza enters this weekend's matches with 756 assists and a 9.45 assists per set average on the season.
RED STORM OPENS BIG EAST PLAY WITH FOUR-STRAIGHT WINS
- St. John's opened BIG EAST play with a 4-0 record this season, which is the program's best start to conference play since 2007. In that year, the team won the conference tournament, a share of the Regular Season title with a 13-1 record, and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
- After sweeping Georgetown, St. John's defeated Villanova in a five-set thriller and swept UConn the following weekend. The Red Storm then pushed its record to 4-0 with a 3-1 win at DePaul.
HOW SWEEP IT IS
- The Red Storm has swept the competition in 12 matches this season.
- The school-record for sweeps in a season is 23, accomplished in both the 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournament seasons.
- St. John's leads all BIG EAST squads in sweeps. Marquette (17-3, 7-0) has compiled the second-most with 10.
- Just three of the Red Storm's matches this season have gone to five sets (Sept. 15 at LIU-Brooklyn, Sept. 23 vs. Villanova, Oct. 12 vs. No. 15 Louisville).
YOUTH MOVEMENT
- The Red Storm attack has been led by two underclassmen - sophomore Aleksandra Wachowicz and freshman Karin Palgutova.
- Wachowicz, a BIG EAST Honor Roll member in week two, leads the squad with 257 kills and a 3.17 kills per set average. She has racked up a career-high 21 kills twice this season (Sept. 8 vs. Idaho State and Aug. 31 at Central Connecticut)
- Palgutova, who has collected two BIG EAST weekly honors this season, is second in kills (241) and kills per set (3.05). She has recorded a career-high 19 kills twice this season (Oct. 12 vs. No. 15 Louisville and Sept. 15 at LIU Brooklyn)
UP NEXT
St. John's will return to Carnesecca Arena for a pair of BIG EAST matches against local rivals next weekend. The Red Storm will take on Seton Hall (16-5, 4-4) on Friday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. and Rutgers (16-7, 2-6) on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m.
