St. John's University Athletics
St. John's Hosts Siena In 2012 Home-Opener
8/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2012
QUEENS, N.Y. - After going 3-1 in the Battle at the Bay Tournament in Baltimore, Md. last weekend, St. John's will host Siena in its first home match of the 2012 season on Wednesday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. The Red Storm has defeated the Saints in their last eight matchups, dating back to 1996. All-time, St. John's is 8-2 against Siena with its only two loses coming in the inaugural 1994 season. The Red Storm has also swept the Saints in six of their 10 meetings.
FOLLOW THE MATCH LIVE
The match will be aired live on StormTracker All-Access, with free live stats provided by GameTracker. Tony Luftman will be on the call with analyst Stephen Florival. Fans can tune in 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.
SCOUTING THE SAINTS
Siena head coach Garvey Pierre is entering his tenth season at the helm. He has guided the program to four MAAC championships and four 20-win seasons in nine years.
The Saints return every letterwinner from last season's squad that won 23 games and advanced to the conference semifinals.
Siena is 2-2 on the young season after taking on Binghamton, Fordham, Texas Tech, and host school Boston College in the Boston College Invitational.
During the first day of the tournament, Siena swept Fordham before being defeated 3-1 by Boston College.
In the second day, the Saints dropped their first match to Texas Tech, 3-1, before topping Binghamton, 3-2.
Junior Taylor Akana, the reigning MAAC Offensive Player of the Year and All-MAAC First Team selction, was named the 2012 MAAC volleyball Preseason Player of the Year by the league coaches.
Akana currently leads Siena in kills (49), has a .181 hitting percentage, and is third on the squad in digs (33).
In 2011, Akana led the Saints kills (431) and finished second in digs (330).
Senior Lesli Akeo, the 2011 Co-MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, currently ranks first on the team in digs with 75.
Akeo, who also led the squad in digs last season (541), is the program's all-time digs leader.
After leading the squad in assists in 2011 (839), senior setter Sarah Siverton has picked up right where she left off, leading the Saints with 148 helpers so far this season.
Siverton was named to the all-tournament team in last weekend's Boston College Invitational.
STORMWATCH
Senior setter/libero Gabriela Petkova is currently ranked fifth in the STJ record books with 2,055 assists, needing just six more to pass Lisa Tedder for possession of the fourth-place spot.
Senior setter Sabina Piegza, currently in ninth-place on the all-time assists list, needs 278 more helpers to take over eighth-place.
After transferring from Western Nebraska C.C. in 2011, Piegza compiled 758 assists in her first season with St. John's.
Darlene Ramdin, who graduated in May 2012, finished her St. John's career with a senior season in which she compiled 355 kills on 884 attacks and racked up 114 blocks.
Ramdin finished in sixth-place on the all-time kills list (1,234), third-place on the all-time kill attempts list (2,180), and third-place on the all-time blocks list (392).
PIEGZA NAMED TO BIG EAST WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
After receiving All-Tournament honors at the Battle of the Bay last weekend, senior setter Sabina Piegza was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll for the first-time in her career.
Piegza racked up a team-high 108 assists in four matches, leading the squad in helpers in each match.
The native of Poland compiled at least 20 assists per match and picked up her fifth-career double-double with a season-high 39 assists and 13 digs in a 3-1 win over UMBC.
UP NEXT
Following the Siena match, St. John's will travel to New Britain, Conn., for three matches in the Central Connecticut State Invitational.
The Red Storm will face Central Connecticut State, Brown and Holy Cross at the tournament.
STJ is 3-1 all-time against Central Connecticut State, defeating the Blue Devils in their past three meetings. The Red Storm's only loss to the Blue Devils came in the inaugural 1994 season.
The Red Storm has faced the Blue Devils on the road in all four matches.
After defeating Brown, 3-2, in last season's Kaiser Classic, the Red Storm will look to improve to 3-0 all-time against the Bears in the upcoming tournament.
St. John's is 3-0 all-time against Holy Cross, sweeping the Crusaders in their past two meetings.
