Volleyball Falls to St. John's

Saturday, September 11

Queens, NY

1 PM

Army West Point

6-3,0-0Patriot

St. John's

6-4,0-0Big East

Army West Point

St. John's (NY)

Volleyball Falls to St. John's

September 11, 2021 | Volleyball

Box Score

MATCH 9
SCORE	St. John's 3, Army 0
RECORDS	St. John's (6-4) \| Army (6-3)
LOCATION	Taffner Fieldhouse
INVITATIONAL	Jack Kaiser Classic

QUEENS, N.Y. --- After splitting a pair of matches on day one of the Jack Kaiser Classic on Friday, the Army West Point volleyball team was defeated by the St. John's in straight sets on Saturday.

Paige Fixemer and Savannah Bray led the offense with eight kills, while Bray tacked on five digs as well. Diana Ethridge finished the match with 27 assists and one service ace for the Cadets. Cate Buckingham recorded a season best of three service aces along with six kills to finish out her weekend. Kingsley Wallace and Jasmine Grant were a wall at the net with three blocks each.

St. John's took the first set behind a match-best .556 hitting percentage. The Red Storm jumped out to a 5-1 lead to open the first set. A kill by Fixemer, followed by an attack error by the Red Storm, cut the score to 6-4. However, the host gradually pulled away on its way to a 16-8 lead and won the set 25-15.

The Black Knights had a bright start to the second set. Four straight points, including consecutive aces by Cate Buckingham, gave Army a 5-2 lead. St. John's tied the match at 6-6. The team's traded points but the Red Storm's offense took off giving the team the 21-17 advantage. Buckingham fired off two kills to cut away at St. John's lead, but the Cadets ended up falling 25-22.
Army opened the third set with a block from Wallace and Grant to help get the fire going for the offense. Buckingham chipped in a few kills, but offensive errors allowed St. John's to take the lead, 18-11. The Black Knights called a timeout to gain control of the set, but errors continued to trouble the Cadets. The Red Storm took the set 25-16, claiming the match in three sets.

Coach's Corner
" St. John's is a very good team, they are strong in all positions," said head coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "We played nine sets yesterday, so our recovery time was a little short. Our goal is to get ready for Patriot league games and facing tough competition in nonconference matches is a must, we can learn more about ourselves. Jasmine Grant was a bright light today; she came in and did a great job blocking some of their [St. John's] toughest hitters. Also, we had Kingsley Wallace play every set this weekend and she did very well, especially against Boston College. Sayler Butters had a strong tournament as well. We have a long season ahead of us, so I am excited to see more players get opportunities. Overall, despite the loss, we learned more about ourselves this weekend. Everyone is excited about getting back in practice next week and level up."

Inside The Numbers

Sayler Butters was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Diana Ethridge led the Black Knights with 27 assists. She has had at least 20 assists in eight of the nine matches this season.
Sayler Butters had a match-high 10 digs to recorded double-digit digs for the ninth straight match.
Savannah Bray and Paige Fixemer shared team-high honors with 8 kills.
Jasmine Grant had a match-high and season-high four blocks
Cate Buckingham's season-high three aces led the match.