St. John’s blitzed past Stony Brook in a straight sets victory on Tuesday night. The Red Storm (5-3) handily took care of the Seawolves (3-5) in the first two sets, but had to mount a comeback late in the third set to clinch the victory in just over an hour of play.
Backed by a strong performance from sophomore Karin Palgutova, the Johnnies steamrolled past a besieged Stony Brook squad to take a quick 19-3 lead in the first set. The 6’2” outside hitter led the team with 15 kills in the match.
St. John’s continued to overpower Stony Brook to take the first set 25-5, finished by a kill from Karin Palgutova, assisted by sophomore Deniz Mutlugil. The setter earned thirty-one assists in the match, including the set that established that first set-winning kill for Palgutova.
“We came out strong,” head coach Joanne Persico said. “We try to just work on our leadership and that killer instinct.”
The Seawolves looked to bounce back following their first set thumping, but their lack of size led to them being dominated at the net and eventually they were run over partway through the
second set. The Red Storm went on a 7-2 run to take a six point lead and later closed the door on the struggling
Seawolves to end the set, winning seven of the eight final points in the second set.
The final set of play looked to be much more competitive than the previous two as Stony Brook strung off five points in a row to take an early lead. Junior Alexandra Wachowiz managed to keep the scoreboard close, getting two consecutive kills. Wachowiz was second in kills for the team on Tuesday with eight, only trailing Palgutova.
“Alexandra’s a junior now and she knows what it’s like to be in the Big East and to compete and she’s one of our junior leaders,” Persico said.
Trailing 15-18, the Johnnies scored six consecutive points to set up a sizeable lead that seemed to banish any lingering thoughts of optimism from Stony Brook, and only surrendered one more point in the final set before Palgutova ended the game with a kill.
St. John’s will play on Sept. 13 when they travel to Georgia Tech.
