St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Binghamton
St. John's Volleyball Crowned Jack Kaiser Classic Champions
9/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
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QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's continued to be dominate in 2016, with sweeps over La Salle (25-15, 25-22,25-22) and Binghamton (25-16, 25-20, 25-20) on Saturday afternoon to capture the 2016 Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic title. The Red Storm is now a perfect 6-0 on the year, its best start to a season since 2006.
LA SALLE RECAP
After recording her first double-double of the season last night against Niagara, Margherita Bianchin was impressive once again posting a match-high 14 kills on an astounding .571 attacking percentage. The primary setter, Erica Di Maulo dished out a match-high 34 assists and was great at the service line logging a career-high four aces. Julia Cast, a junior, reached double-digits once again in the kill category with her 11 against the Explorers on a .400 hitting percentage. Coming off the bench and providing an impact was Lexie Lobdell, who recorded five digs and two assists.
The Johnnies held La Salle to just .225 attacking percentage, while hitting at a .358 clip. St. John's has been a tremendous defensive team so far on the year and showed it against the Explorers forcing 17 errors, with eight total team blocks. The head coach of La Salle is Caitlin Schweihofer who was the captain of the Red Storm squad that won the BIG EAST Championship in 2007.
In the opening-frame, St. John's cruised past the Explorers, 25-15, as they hit at a .423 clip and recorded six block assists. Di Maulo notched 11 of 34 assists in the first set and Gaia Traballi was on the other end of the passes with four kills.
The Italian born Bianchin recorded six of her kills in the second-set alone against La Salle, as the Red Storm never trailed in the second-stanza. Senior Melissa Chin who started at the libero position was great defensively with three of her six digs coming in the second. With a slight, 23-22, advantage Bianchin made a perfect swing to earn the kill and then Traballi blasted one for a point to give the Johnnies the set.
The third-set was the same score as the previous one and St. John's struggled to open the frame trailing 7-2, before going on a 6-1 run to even the score at eight. The Di Maulo to Bianchin combination was working once again, with them combining for five kills and 11 assists in the final stanza. The rest of the set was close throughout, until the Johnnies led 23-22 and won the set on back-to-back errors by the Explorers.
BINGHAMTON RECAP
Di Maulo, a newcomer from Italy, picked up her third double-double in four matches with a match-high 41 assists, while adding 11 digs against the Bearcats. She was named MVP of the Jack Kaiser Classic and is now averaging 11.8 assists and 3.05 digs on the year.
Another rookie from Italy, Traballi recorded her second double-double of the Kaiser Classic with 14 kills and 14 digs earning a spot on the All-Tournament Team. Bianchin was impressive throughout the Classic, as she was also named to the All-Tournament Team and logged a match-high 15 kills, while hitting at a .375 clip.
The Red Storm started the first set on a 9-3 run, thanks to kills from Traballi, Bianchin and Mona Karkkainen. Binghamton came back to draw within one at 11-10, before the Johnnies went on a 15-6 run to close out the opening-set.
The next set, St. John's was dominant in front of the net led by Danisha Moss, who had two of her four blocks assists in the second-frame. The Johnnies out blocked the Bearcats 10-7 in the match, while also holding them to a .146 attacking percentage. Traballi and Bianchin each recorded five kills in the second-set, as the Red Storm won it, 25-20.
With the Johnnies only one set away from taking home the title, two of the top players from a year ago, Cast and Bianchin delivered in the clutch picking up five kills apiece. After trailing early in the third-set, the Red Storm cruised the rest of the way to a, 25-20, victory to take the Jack Kaiser Classic title.
2016 Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team
Erica Di Maulo, St. John's MVP
Margherita Bianchin, St. John's
Gaia Traballi, St. John's
Jensen Sharrtis, La Salle
Devin Corah, La Salle
Bailey Walker, Binghamton
UP NEXT
St. John's will head out west for the San Francisco Invitational starting on Friday, Sept. 9, when the Red Storm face the Dons of San Francisco at 9:30 p.m.
The following day, the Johnnies take on UC Santa Barbara at 1 p.m. and wrap up the tournament with a matchup against Brown at 7:30 p.m.
