Sept. 10, 2013

Final Stats

Queens, N.Y. - Sophomore Melissa Rigo finished with a team-high seven kills and chipped in seven digs and three assists in an all-around effort, but the Stony Brook volleyball team fell to St. John's, 3-0, Tuesday at Carnesecca Arena. Junior Hannah Dolan led the Seawolves with 18 assists.

St. John's improves to 5-3 after winning the match by set scores of 25-5, 25-16 and 25-19, while Stony Brook drops to 3-5 on the season despite a team-best 11 digs from sophomore captain Lo Hathaway. 

Head Coach Coley Pawlikowski's Reaction
"Tonight, we took a step backwards, but sometimes you have to take two steps forward and one step back as you are trying to make improvements. This is season is a marathon, not a sprint. We just need to learn from it. We get to see them in two weeks, and hopefully they see a different Stony Brook team."   

Recap

Stony Brook played well at the net early in the first frame, as Dolan teamed up with Taylor Gillie and then Stephanie McFadden for a pair of blocks to help the Seawolves keep pace with the Red Storm, a Big East program, in a 2-2 tie. However, St. John's hit a solid .389 to jet off to a 1-0 lead in sets. 

SB came out stronger in the second stanza and took a 6-5 lead on consecutive kills by Dolan, but the Red Storm used a 7-0 run in the moments that followed to go ahead 12-6 and continued on for the win.

SJU grabbed an early 4-1 advantage in the third set. Never ones to go down quietly, the Seawolves closed the gap to one, 4-3, after a Red Storm service error and a block by Rigo and Gillie. Rigo followed with back-to-back kills and Kaitlin Costello hammered one home to give Stony Brook a 6-4 lead and force St. John's to call timeout.

The hosts knotted it at 6-all out of the huddle as a seesaw affair ensued. Minutes later, SB trailed by two, 13-11, when St. John's committed an attack error. Kathy Fletcher notched an ace and though the Red Storm responded with a kill, they were called for a bad set on the next rally as Stony Brook went up one, 15-14. A kill by Gillie and an ace by McFadden put the score at 17-14 in favor of the Seawolves.

After taking its second timeout, St. John's reclaimed momentum with an 11-5 spurt of its own that secured the sweep.

The Numbers Game

• Gillie, Dolan and McFadden finished with two blocks each, while Rigo and Fletcher tallied one apiece.
• Costello and McFadden chipped in five kills and four kills, respectively.
• Both squads registered three aces, with McFadden, Costello and Hathaway each notching one for SB.
• Amy Zimmer recorded seven blocks for the Red Storm.

News and Notes

• Hathaway and Dolan have led SB in digs and sets, respectively, in every match this season.
• Although the Seawolves fall to 1-12 all-time against the Red Storm, they will get another crack at St. John's at the Bryant Invitational Sept. 20 at 6 p.m.

Up Next

Stony Brook hits the road once again for the Kennesaw State Owl Classic in Kennesaw, Ga.  The Seawolves will play Samford and Kennesaw State Friday at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively, before matching up with Tennessee Tech and Coastal Carolina Saturday.