St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Rutgers
Rutgers Edges Red Storm In Five-Set Thriller
10/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 28, 2012
- VIDEO: Highlights and Postgame Interview with Petkova
- VIDEO: Highlights and Postgame Interview with Coach Persico
- Box Score
- Box Score (PDF)
- Photo Gallery
QUEENS, N.Y - Despite out-digging Rutgers, 93-90, St. John's was outlasted, 3-2 (16-25, 25-18, 25-22, 26-28, 15-17), in a tightly fought match at Carnesecca Arena on Sunday afternoon. Over the course of the match, there were 28 lead changes and the score was tied 53 times - both of which are match-highs for the Red Storm this season. St. John's falls to 18-9 on the season and 5-6 in the BIG EAST, while Rutgers improves to 17-8 and 3-7. With UConn's defeat of Seton Hall today, the Red Storm remains tied with the Pirates for sixth place in the conference.
After winning a third set in which neither team held a lead of more than three points, St. John's took a 2-1 advantage in the match and had a chance to put the Scarlet Knights away in the following set. However, Rutgers managed to tie the match up, outhitting the Red Storm, .234 to .157, in a fourth set victory.
Rutgers started the fifth set by giving St. John's a 1-0 lead with a service error, but St. John's returned the favor with an attack error to even the score at 1-1. The Red Storm then went back on top, 3-1, with back-to-back kills by freshman Karin Palgutova, but Rutgers promptly tied the score at 3-3. For the remainder of the set, which had a total of seven lead changes and 13 tied scores, neither team led by more than a point until Megan Stephenson and Alex Schmid combined on a block to give Rutgers a 17-15 fifth set victory.
"You have to give a lot of credit to Rutgers - they're a scrappy team," head coach Joanne Persico said. "They made it hard for our offense to get going. We knew it was going to be a dogfight going in - we spoke about it. Hopefully we learn from it, move on, and continue to get better."
Senior libero Gabriela Petkova led the defense, accounting for 30% of the Red Storm's digs with a season-best 28 dig performance. She also contributed three assists.
Palgutova recorded 22 kills - the most by a member of the Red Storm this season - and contributed 10 digs for her team-leading sixth double-double of the season. The Slovakian also had a match-high three service aces, which gives her 46 on the season. Palgutova is now tied with Stasha Levi for the fourth-most service aces in a season in St. John's history.
Senior Milica Krstojevic picked up 13 kills on 31 attempts for a .258 hitting percentage. The Bosnian is now hitting .326 on the season, which is the eighth-highest single-season hitting percentage in St. John's history. Krstojevic also had a pair of service aces in the match.
Sophomore Morgan Thomas came off the bench to record a season-high 10 digs in four sets of play. She also gave the Red Storm a 7-6 lead in the fourth set by registering her second service ace of the season.
UP NEXT
St. John's will hit the road for a pair of BIG EAST matches next weekend. The Red Storm will take on Syracuse (10-16, 2-9) on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. and Marquette (20-4, 10-1) on Sunday Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.
