St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
DePaul
St. John's Prevails In Five Sets At DePaul
10/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
CHICAGO, Ill. - Despite being out-dug 57-49, the St. John's volleyball squad defeated a feisty DePaul team, 3-2 (27-25, 24-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11) on the road Friday night to improve to 4-1 on the season in five-set matches. The Red Storm (14-9, 4-4 BIG EAST) got back to .500 in league play, while extending the Blue Demons (12-8, 1-7 BIG EAST) losing streak to five.
"It was great to get another hard fought and exciting fifth set win on the road," said Head Coach Joanne Persico. "[Yaidy] Santiago came in the fifth set with her team down 4-1 and was a game changer. I was so happy for her and how the team responded."
Yaidy Santiago was huge in the final stanza as the senior outside hitter posted four kills to get the Red Storm get a 5-4 lead, which forced DePaul to call a timeout. St. John's stayed on the attack and opened up a three-point lead (11-8) to cause the Blue Demons to burn another timeout. The Red Storm ended the set on a 4-2 run to win the frame, 15-11.
Junior Mona Karkkainen led the charge for St. John's and was one of four Red Storm players in double-digits in kills. The Helsinki, Finland, native put together her best match of the season tying her career-high in kills with 12 with a .435 attacking percentage.
Senior Shawna-Lei Santos assumed setting responsibilities for the night and was not shy with sharing the ball. The Hawaiian native finished with 51 assists, one shy of tying her career-high. Santos also tallied five digs and three blocks.
Karin Palgutova collected her eighth double-double of the season with a match-high 20 kills and 10 digs. The senior outside hitter also tallied six blocks and two service aces. The Slovakian has 1,742 career kills and is now 25 kills away from surpassing Jackie Ahlers (1,766 kills) as the school's all-time leader in kills. She also has 128 career service aces and needs five to become St. John's career leader.
Margherita Bianchin continued her solid play with 10 kills and six digs as the freshman outside hitter has now recorded double-digit kills in seven of the eight BIG EAST matches this season.
Sophomore Julia Cast was efficient as she has been all season long tallying 12 kills with a .391 attacking percentage. The New York native also picked up six blocks. Redshirt sophomore Danisha Moss displayed her extraordinary blocking skills at the net as she racked up a match-high eight stuffs. The Canadian also picked up two kills and two assists.
Also contributing to the Red Storm defense was Delaney D'Amore and Melissa Chin. D'Amore finished with a team-high 17 digs and a service ace, while Chin totaled seven digs and a service ace.
After a 27-25 win in the first set, DePaul would get a narrow 26-24 victory to even the score at 1-1 heading into the intermission. The third and fourth set went back-and-forth and stayed tight throughout. The Red Storm took the third (25-23), but the Blue Demons answered with a 25-22 win in the fourth.
UP NEXT
The Red Storm will travel to Milwaukee, Wis., to take on Marquette at the Al McGuire Center on Saturday at 7 p.m.
