St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
DePaul
St. John's Blanks DePaul to Cap Off Homestand
10/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Box Score (PDF)
SJU-TV Postgame Recap
Follow St. John's Volleyball on Twitter
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's volleyball team swept the DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday afternoon (25-16, 25-23, 25-22) to move to a perfect 9-0 in three-set matches this season.
Coming into the match, the Blue Demons had won four-straight and were second in the BIG EAST, but St. John's (12-8, 3-4 BIG EAST) was dominant on both ends of the court to earn the victory in straight-sets over its conference foe. The Red Storm was efficient with a .265 attacking percentage, while holding DePaul (11-8, 5-2 BIG EAST) to a .091 hitting percentage. One of the top blocking teams in the nation, the Johnnies were impressive in front of the net registering 14 total blocks, its most in a three-set match this season.
Leading the offense was freshman outside hitter Gaia Traballi, who notched a match-high 18 kills on an outstanding season-high .382 attacking percentage. The Milano, Lombardia, Italy, native also produced a season-high five total blocks. Assisting on every one of Traballi's 18 kills was classmate Erica Di Maulo, while dishing out a match-high 40 assists. She now has five-straight matches with at least 40 assists and added seven digs against the Blue Demons.
The Johnnies forced 24 errors by DePaul and was solid all-match in returning the big swings by the Blue Demons. Two student-athletes for the Red Storm recording double-digit digs, Melissa Chin picked up a team-high 11, while Lexie Lobdell added 10 digs. It was the second-straight match for Julia Cast where she was solid all-around, registering 10 kills at a .304 clip and a match-high six total blocks.
The match opened up with both teams even at seven, but the Red Storm cruised the rest of the way for its largest set victory of the afternoon, 25-16. Traballi had four kills in the first-set, while Margherita Bianchin recorded three of her nine kills in the opening-frame. St. John's hit at a .370 clip and only registered four errors in the stanza.
The next set was the closest of the match, which included 12 ties and seven lead changes. The Johnnies found themselves down at 19-15, but put together another big run, winning seven of the next eight points to take a 22-20 lead. The Blue Demons won the next three points, but a kill by Mona Karkkainen, an error by DePaul and then a kill from Cast gave the Red Storm a 2-0 advantage. St. John's picked up five total blocks for the second-straight set, with Danisha Moss tacking on three block assists.
In the final set of the match the Red Storm never trailed, but its largest lead was only four points. The score was even at 14, until the Johnnies went on a 5-1 run to force the Blue Demons to call a timeout. DePaul came back to tie the stanza at 21, and then St. John's won four of the next five points, including three kills by Traballi to win the match in straight-sets. Di Maulo dished out 14 of her assists in the last set, while Cast notched five of her 10 kills in the final frame.
St. John's has now won five of its last six matches against the Blue Demons and improves to 7-2 at home when facing off with DePaul.
Next up, the Johnnies will hit the road for a four-match road trip that begins against the reigning BIG EAST Champion Creighton, on Friday Oct. 14 at the D.J. Sokol Arena. The first serve is slated for 8 p.m.
