Syracuse University
15-5, 4-1
St. John's University
8-12, 1-3
Orange Upends St. John's, 3-1
10/10/2009 6:48:38 PM | Volleyball
Senior outside hitter Annabelle Pellerin tallied a team-best 15 kills, propelling Syracuse to a 3-1 victory against St. John's in the inaugural game at the newly renovated Carnesecca Arena in Queens, N.Y. on Saturday afternoon. The Orange improved to 15-5 on the season and 4-1 in the BIG EAST, maintaining its second-place position on the conference standings, while the Red Storm moved to 8-12, 1-3. SU's 15-5 record marks its best season start since 2004, when the team opened with an identical 15-5 mark through its first 20 games en route to a 25-7 overall record.
With the victory, Pellerin and classmates Kacie MacTavish, Sarah Morton and Shanetha McLaurin ended a three-year winless drought against St. John's, dating back to 2006. Pellerin led Syracuse in kills for the second time this season, hitting .545 while adding a trio of blocks. Morton ranked second with 10 kills, while MacTavish added eight. Junior middle blocker Hayley Todd continued to be successful on the outside, posting six kills, while freshman Samantha Hinz had five out of the middle. Rookie setter Laura Homann continued to utilize her deceiving dump shot, catching the Red Storm off guard on seven occasions while dishing out 39 assists.
The SU offense built on a strong foundation laid by the defense, which allowed only two receiving errors in comparison to St. John's six. MacTavish set the tone for the solid defense with a match-high 18 digs, while sophomore outside hitter Noemie Lefebvre added a strong defensive effort at libero with 14 pickups. Homann and Hinz propelled the defense at the net, posting four total rejections each while Morton, the national blocking leader, had three.
St. John's stormed out past the Orange in the opening set, starting on a 4-1 run which parlayed into 16-9 advantage before an ultimate 25-15 victory.
Syracuse found its stride in the second set, trading points with St. John's to a 4-4 tie, before Homann served seven-straight to give SU a sizeable, 11-4 edge. SU maintained a steady lead between four and eight points over the Red Storm for the remainder of the set, tying the match with a 25-18, game-two victory.
The third set proved to be the closest of the match, with the two teams tying on 11 different occasions through the first two-thirds of the match. Knotted at 17, Syracuse assembled a critical three-point run to go ahead, 20-17, before ultimately taking the set by the same margin, 25-22.
The Orange was unstoppable in the fourth set, taking an early 12-6 lead, courtesy of a four-point serving run by MacTavish. Junior defensive specialist Sarah Hayes helped to break the game open for SU, building the lead to 10, 17-7, with a four-point serving run of her own before Morton served three in a row to give Syracuse its largest lead of the game, 22-10. Syracuse closed out the set, 25-14, to take the match, 3-1.
Syracuse continues its BIG EAST road trip tomorrow, Sunday, October 11, visiting Connecticut for a 2 p.m. start.
