St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Syracuse
St. John's Defeats Syracuse, 3-1, On The Road
11/3/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 3, 2012
SYRACUSE, N.Y - St. John's improved to 19-9 on the season and 6-6 in the BIG EAST with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-19) victory over Syracuse on the road. With just three matches left in conference play, the Red Storm now has sole possession of sixth place in the league. St. John's entered Friday in a three-way tie with Villanova and Seton Hall, but moved ahead of the two schools with Villanova's loss and Seton Hall's inaction tonight. The Red Storm also moved within one match of tying fifth place UConn as the Huskies lost in four sets to Marquette.
Syracuse, meanwhile, fell to 10-17 on the season and 2-10 in the conference. The Orange's leading attacker Silvi Uattara recorded 17 kills on a .382 hitting percentage.
However, sophomore Aleksandra Wachowicz outperformed the two-time BIG EAST Freshman of the Week with 18 kills on a career-best .406 hitting percentage. Wachowicz, who had double-digit kills just once in the past four matches, recorded five kills in the fifth set, including the match-clinching kill - an attack that sailed wide right of the blockers and landed in the left back row out of the reach of the libero. Senior setter Sabina Piegza, who finished with 52 assists on the night, assisted her on the play.
"I had a breakthrough match tonight and I feel very good," Wachowicz said. "But it was a total team effort - we worked really hard on coverage. We are like a family in the way that we support each other. And this is the time of the year that we need that the most."
Both senior Gabriela Petkova and freshman Shawna-Lei Santos finished with double-digit digs as St. John's out-dug Syracuse, 43-34. Petkova led the match with 12 digs, which included a dig in the third set in which she went horizontal over teammate Karin Palgutova to pick up a tip with her outstretched right arm. The dig extended the volley and resulted in a Syracuse attack error. Later in the set, Petkova gave St. John's a 26-24 victory with a service ace.
Santos, meanwhile, collected her first-career double-double with an 11 kill, 11 dig performance.
Senior Milica Krstojevic led the match with a .550 hitting percentage, racking up 13 kills on just 20 attacks. She also tied Syracuse's Samantha Hinz for the match-lead in blocks with five. The middle blocker is now hitting .334 on the season, which is the fifth-best single-season hitting percentage in St. John's history.
Palgutova picked up double-digit kills for the ninth-straight match by recording 12 kills tonight. The Slovakian also chipped in five digs, a service ace, and a block. She now has 47 aces in 2012, which is the fourth-most in a season in St. John's history.
This was the first time St. John's has defeated Syracuse since Oct. 5, 2008.
UP NEXT
St. John's will take on first place Marquette (20-4, 10-1) on Sunday Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisc.
