In the second and final day of the Battle at the Bay, St. John’s picked up a pair of wins, sweeping Coppin State and defeating UMBC 3-1.
Sophomore Aleksandra Wachowicz, who led the team in kills in the women’s volleyball tournament, and senior Sabina Piegza, who led in assists, received All-Tournament honors. Wachowicz had 38 kills in the four matches, including 16 against UMBC — a team-high for the season. Piegza, who led the team in assists in every contest, complied 108 assists in the tournament, including a season-high 39 assists against UMBC.
Match One
The Red Storm defeated the Eagles 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-12). All-time, St. John’s is undefeated against Coppin State (0-3), sweeping them in all three meetings between the two programs.
Two freshmen led the attack against the Eagles as Karin Palgutova and Shawna-Lei Santos combined for 22 of the team’s 43 kills. Palgutova had 12 kills and a .611 attacking percentage, both team highs for the match, and added three digs. Santos notched 10 kills, picked up her first-career service ace and added six digs.
Match Two
The Red Storm defeated the Lady Retrievers 3-1 (25-20, 29-27, 23-25, 25-14). St. John’s played UMBC (2-2) to three close sets before overwhelming the Lady Retrievers in the fourth.
The first set saw four lead changes and five tied scores before Wachowicz closed it out with a kill to win 25-20.
The Red Storm led for the majority of the second set, but the Lady Retrievers nipped at their heels, tying the score six times and extending the set beyond 25 points. St. John’s collected two consecutive kills from Krstojevic and Piegza to win the set 29-27.
St. John’s got off to a fast start in the third set, collecting the first five points, but UMBC rallied, tying the match 12 times before taking a late lead and winning it 25-23.
In the fourth and final set, the Red Storm led by as much as 15 points before closing out the match with a 25-14 victory.
