The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

Volleyball sweeps W. Va.

If someone were to ask senior setter Wioleta Leszczynska what her expectations were for the year before the 2008 volleyball season started, her answers would be the same as last year.

“I expect this year to be as best as possibly can be, we want to play as late as possible,” she said. “I have high expectation. We want to win the Big East, and the championship, like last year, and well go from there.”

With Friday night’s 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-23) win over host West Virginia, the Red Storm are on their way to meeting Leszczynska’s expectations.

The Red Storm improved their record to 15-8 (6-1 Big East), while the struggling West Virginia Mountaineers fell to 6-15 (0-8 Big East).

“Every game there is a different person who steps up there game,” Leszczynska said. “We as a team, we try to play as equal as possible.”

Darlene Radmin, who has started all but two games this year, finished the game with six kills, a .250 hitting percentage, and a match-high three total blocks.

“Darlene did very well; she came to play,” head coach Joanne Persico Smith said. “She’s come a long way. Everyday she is getting better.”

Leszczynska, who leads the Big East in assists, had another strong performance and finished the match with 36 assists, nine digs, three kills and a .333 hitting percentage.

Valeria Kovaleva recorded another double-double and finished the match with 11 kills and 14 digs.

The Red Storm dominated the first two sets, and in the third set, when West Virginia started to show some life, a total team effort closed out the game for the defending Big East Champions.

Perisco-Smith said that her team has to remain consistent and finish out games if they want to be successful in the post season.

“This team came a long way from the beginning of the season,” she said. “This team has to keep improving if they want to do well. We lost firepower; we got to keep playing hard. We’re happy we got the win and we’re in the first.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, were going to take it one at a time.”

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