St. John's University Athletics
RedStormSports.com Ahlers, Ruban and Persico-Smith Lead NYC Volleyball to Gold Medal
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Ahlers, Ruban and Persico-Smith Lead NYC Volleyball to Gold Medal Aug. 3, 2004 Queens, NY - The 27th Empire State Games concluded on Sunday with many members of the St. John's family coming home with medals. The Red Storm was well represented in the women's volleyball open division, as the New York City team won the gold medal. The team featured sophomore Jackie Ahlers (Stony Point, NY) and senior Yana Ruban (Kiev, Ukraine), along with head coach Joanne Persico-Smith and former St. John's standout Olga Roudovski. Coached by St. John's assistant coach Mario Treibitch, the New York City team defeated Western, 3-1 (17-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-14), in a rematch of last year's championship match, for the gold. New York City, continually with a St. John's feel, has been in the gold medal game the last four years, last winning in 2002. Incoming women's basketball freshman Jenn Jones (Arkport, NY) led the Western team to the open division gold medal. The Western squad went undefeated over the five-game tournament, capped off by a 69-66 win over New York City in the gold medal game. In the opening two victories, Jones posted team-highs with 15 and 19 points, and continued her strong play the rest of the weekend, averaging double-figures. Three Red Storm women's soccer players took home silver from this year's Games as the Adirondack open division team lost to Western, 2-1 in the gold medal game on Sunday. The team went 2-0-1 in round-robin play, led by junior Erin Henderson (Watervliet, NY), who tallied three assists, including assists on both goals in the team's opening 2-1 win against Central. Joining Henderson on the silver medal team was sophomore Erinn Flaherty (Clifton Park, NY) and newcomer Marissa Testa (Niskayuna, NY). Senior Dominica Reina (Frankfort, NY) participated this year for the Long Island team, scoring one goal on the weekend. In the men's basketball open division, the New York City team, led by sophomore Daryll Hill (Queens, NY) and junior Ryan Williams (Queens, NY), went 1-2 in round-robin play, although the duo only played in the first two games. Williams scored nine points in the team's 97-75 win over Adirondack and followed it up with a team-high 30 points in NYC's 126-113 loss to Central. Meanwhile, Hill averaged 10.5 points over the two games. |