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The St. John’s volleyball team is still looking for their first Big East victory after losing their sixth straight game, falling to Marquette in straight sets (17-25, 19-25, 23-25) on Oct. 2 at
Carnesecca Arena.
“I just keep telling the team to bring energy, [and] stay positive,” said head coach Joanne Persico about the loss and the bad stretch. “We really need to start winning some matches, but it’s good that we’re competing and I feel like we’re going to turn the corner.”
Persico said that after losing to Syracuse the day before, the team spent the night analyzing video tapes and preparing. But against the Golden Eagles (13-4, 4-0), the Red Storm (9-12, 0-4) still lost the first two sets and were on the verge of dropping another game over
the weekend.
In the third set, the Johnnies began to fight back. Down 17-20, the Red Storm tied the score 23-23 behind two piercing kills by senior captain Darlene Ramdin, who led the team with 12 kills
in the game.
“She’s an amazing player,” said junior libero Gabriela Petkova about Ramdin. “We rely a lot on her.”
However, the Red Storm hadn’t won a set in the last four games, and the drought would continue as the team’s momentum ran out and Marquette’s Ashley Beyer came up with two consecutive kills to win the set and the game.
Persico said one of the main reasons for the loss is because of
Marquette’s speed.
“I think one of the issues we have, which is what a lot of teams have, is when we go back to the gym we don’t have those fast sets to practice against,” she said.
That inability to match Marquette’s speed showed throughout as the Red Storm lacked firepower early
in the game.
In the first set, the team combined for only seven kills and had six errors, which allowed Marquette to take an early lead and never look back.
The Red Storm were battling from behind in the second set, down 14-22, when Ramdin subbed in and had a big block and two kills trying to keep her team in the set. She was assisted by junior Sabina Piegza, who finished the game with 23 assists and six digs, but their efforts weren’t enough to overcome the deficit.
“We have to visualize, we have to do a lot of prep and we have to make better in-game adjustments,” said Persico.
The Johnnies will return to the road when they take on Big East opponent South Florida on Oct. 9.
