St. John's University Athletics
Red Storm Hosts BIG EAST Rival UConn On Saturday
9/28/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2012
- Game Notes
- Watch live on STJ-TV
- Follow St. John's Volleyball on Twitter
- Download the 2012 Record Book
- 2012 Statistics
QUEENS, N.Y. - After beginning BIG EAST play with victories over Georgetown and Villanova last weekend, St. John's (15-3, 2-0 BIG EAST) will square off against cross-divisional rival Connecticut (11-6, 2-0 BIG EAST) on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Carnesecca Arena. In their conference-opening weekend, the Huskies also defeated the Wildcats and Hoyas at home.
St. John's is 8-11 all-time against Connecticut, but has been victorious in six of its last eight matches. The Huskies, however, defeated the Red Storm, 3-1, in the most recent matchup on Oct. 15, 2011.
FOLLOW THE MATCH LIVE
- STJ-TV will stream live video with Tony Luftman on the call. Fans can tune in on StormTracker All-Access for a monthly fee of $9.95 or an annual subscription of $79.95.
- Free live stats will be available via .
- 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.
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 197 kills and a 3.23 kills per set average. She has racked up a career-high 21 kills twice this season.
- Palgutova, who has collected two BIG EAST weekly honors this season, is second in kills (178) and kills per set (3.02) and leads the squad in service aces with 27. Her 0.46 service aces per set average is good for third in the BIG EAST and is tied for 26th in the NCAA.
HOW THE RED STORM STACKS UP AGAINST THE BIG EAST
- St. John's ranks third in the league with a .247 hitting percentage, trailing only Marquette and No. 17 Louisville in the category. Palgutova is tied for sixth place in the conference with a .342 hitting percentage and senior Milica Krstojevic is in ninth place with a .340 hitting percentage.
- St. John's is holding its opponents to a BIG EAST-best .119 hitting percentage, which is .029 points lower than second-place Seton Hall.
- The Red Storm also leads the conference in service aces per set with a 1.69 average. Palgutova's 0.46 per set average is good for third place in the league.
- Senior Sabina Piegza is sixth in the BIG EAST in assists per set with 9.37. Last season, Piegza finished tenth in the conference with a 9.19 assists per set average.
RED STORM OPENS BIG EAST PLAY WITH 2-0 RECORD
- St. John's opened BIG EAST play with a bang last weekend, sweeping Georgetown and defeating Villanova in a five-set thriller at home in Carnesecca Arena.
- The last time the Red Storm began conference play with a 2-0 record was in 2008 when the team went 26-6 with a 12-2 mark in the BIG EAST.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
- Picked to finish 10th in the preseason conference poll after going 14-15 (4-10 BIG EAST) in 2011, Connecticut has won five of its past six matches.
- Connecticut ranks fourth in the BIG EAST in blocks (2.38) and fifth in digs per set (16.86).
- A Husky is at the top of both the individual blocks and digs categories. Freshman middle blocker Erika Thomas leads the BIG EAST with a 1.29 blocks per set average, while senior libero Kelsey Maving is first in the conference with a 5.67 digs per set average.
- Connecticut also has a player in the top-10 in individual kills, assists, and service aces per set.
- Sophomore outside hitter Devon Maugle is eighth in league with a 3.45 kills per set average and ninth with a 0.31 service aces per set average, while freshman setter Marissa Prinzbach is fifth in the conference with a 9.56 assists per set average.
STORMWATCH
- In the opening match of the Blackbird Invitational two weekends ago, senior setter Sabina Piegza passed Stasha Levi to take over eighth place on the all-time assists list.
- Piegza, who now has 1,320 career assists, needs 109 more helpers to pass Casie Brooks for seventh place.
- After transferring from Western Nebraska C.C. in 2011, Piegza compiled 758 assists in her first season with St. John's.
- Piegza currently has 562 assists and a 9.37 assists per set average this season.
UP NEXT
The Red Storm will go on its first BIG EAST road trip of the season next weekend, taking on DePaul (5-10, 0-2 BIG EAST) in Chicago, Ill., on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. and Notre Dame (9-5, 2-0 BIG EAST) in South Bend, Ind., on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 2 p.m.
