St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Marquette
Marquette Defeats Red Storm In Four Sets
11/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2012
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - After losing sets one and two, St. John's used a 6-0 run to overcome a three-point deficit in the third set and later staved off a Marquette rally to take the game, 26-24. However, the Red Storm (19-10, 6-7 BIG EAST) ultimately fell short of a comeback victory over the first place Golden Eagles (23-4, 12-1 BIG EAST) and lost the match, 3-1 (18-25, 15-25, 26-24, 16-25).
Freshman Karin Palgutova led all hitters in the match with 22 kills, which ties the career-high she set against Rutgers on Oct. 22. The Slovakian hit .391 - her highest percentage since Sept. 15 - while adding three digs and her 48th service ace of 2012, which puts her two aces away from recording the second-most in a season in St. John's history. However, Palgutova also registered a season-high four service errors today.
Senior middle blocker Milica Krstojevic collected double-digit kills for the sixth-straight match with 12 today. She also hit .526 to increase her hitting percentage in 2012 to .340, which is the fourth-highest season hitting percentage in St. John's history. During the weekend, Krstojevic had a team-best .538 hitting percentage, picking up 25 kills on just 39 attempts. She also led the team in blocks in both matches, collecting five against the Orange and three against Marquette.
Senior setter Sabina Piegza also had a strong weekend. After collecting 50 or more assists just twice this season, she racked up 52 helpers against Syracuse and 50 against Marquette for a 12.75 assists per set average during the weekend. Piegza also contributed five digs and a pair of blocks against the Golden Eagles today.
Senior libero Gabriela Petkova picked up double-digit digs for the 22nd time this season, but her 10 digs today are her lowest total since a four-set loss to USF on Oct. 21.
Freshman Shawna-Lei Santos recorded a team-high 13 digs today, while her classmate and fellow defensive specialist Melissa Chin registered seven.
Sophomore Yana Vavdiyuk provided a spark off the bench, recording five kills on 12 attempts (.417 hitting percentage) in three sets of play.
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Despite the loss, St. John's didn't drop a spot in the conference standings. However, Seton Hall and USF were both victorious today and moved into a tie for sixth place with the Red Storm. St. John's owns a tiebreaker over Seton Hall (due to its win over the Pirates on Oct. 26), but does not own one over USF, who defeated the Red Storm on Oct. 21. But because Seton Hall defeated USF on Sept. 23, neither team holds an advantage over the others in head-to-head results (all are 1-1 against each other). Therefore, if St. John's, Seton Hall, and USF finish with the same BIG EAST record, all three teams would make the conference tournament (eight teams get in), but the tiebreaker for seeding would come down to each team's percentage of league points won (total league points won/total league points played - includes points won and lost).
UP NEXT
St. John's will play its final two matches of the regular season next week. The Red Storm will play at Rutgers (18-10, 4-9) on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. before hosting DePaul (8-18, 3-10) on Friday Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. - it will be Senior Day and five seniors (setter Sabina Piegza, libero Gabriela Petkova, middle blocker Milica Krstojevic, defensive specialist Ashley Asing, and manager Brennan Johnson) will be honored.
