St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Xavier
Xavier Defeats St. John's In Straight Sets
11/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CINCINNATI, OHIO - For only the third time this season, St. John's (19-13, 8-9 BIG EAST) was defeated in straight sets. The Red Storm were unable to take a set away from Xavier (18-11, 11-6) as the Musketeers won, 3-0 (22-25, 13-25, 16-25) Friday afternoon at the Cintas Center.
The Red Storm were held to a season-low .093 hitting percentage as the Musketeers had a .318 percentage. Senior captain Aleksandra Wachowicz led the squad with six kills and two blocks. Her fellow classmate and captain, Ashley Boursiquot tallied five kills and two blocks (one solo and one assist).
Juniors Karin Palgutova and Yaidy Santiago also chipped in four kills each, while redshirt sophomore Briana Guzman had three kills. Junior setter Deniz Mutltugil ran the offense and finished with 18 assists and five digs, while defensively junior libero Shawna-Lei Santos recorded nine digs, two assists, and one service ace.
Xavier was led by Abbey Bessler, who finished with a match-high nine kills on a .318 hitting percentage and six digs. The Red Storm had trouble dealing with the Musketeers' serving as they racked up eight aces. Jesse Earl picked up four service aces, five assists and 11 digs for Xavier.
The first set was close throughout as the Red Storm would tie the frame at 19-19 after an attack error by Xavier's Sofia Peterson, which led to a timeout from the Musketeers. Xavier would gain the advantage after Earl had back-to-back aces that gave Xavier a 23-21 lead, causing St. John's to call a timeout. Xavier would eventually score the next two points and take the set 25-22.
St. John's got off to a slow start in the second frame as the Red Storm trailed Xavier by seven early (8-1). Boursiquot led the Red Storm with three kills, while Mutlugil dished out eight assists in the set. After hitting .600 in the frame, the Musketeers took the set 25-13 and jumped out to a 2-0 lead on St. John's.
The third set saw three tie scores with the last one coming after an attack error by Bessler, as the score was 6-6. The Musketeers went on a 9-4 run giving Xavier a 15-10 lead, forcing St. John's to call a timeout. Redshirt freshman Meagan Milligan and Santiago led the Red Storm with two kills apiece as the Red Storm struggled offensively against Xavier's front line. The Musketeers hit .308 in the final frame and took the set 25-16 to end the match.
UP NEXT
St. John's will culminate the regular season and its home-and-home series against Butler (19-10, 11-6) on Saturday. The Red Storm will travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to take on the Bulldogs at the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse on Nov. 22 at noon.
