Nov. 9, 2007
Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown University volleyball team fell short tonight in a 3-1 loss to BIG EAST Conference opponent No. 21 St. John's (CSTV/AVCA Division I National Coaches Poll) in McDonough Arena. The Hoyas (5-24, 1-12 BIG EAST) are the first team to take a game off the Red Storm in seven matches. The 21st-ranked St. John's team improves to 27-3 with a 12-1 slate in league action. Game scores were 15-30, 20-30, 31-29, 19-30. "The Hoyas played well and very consistently from the beginning to end against a very good St. John's team," Head Coach Arlisa Hagan Williams said. "It was nice to see Courtney Cohen have her breakout game tonight and we are looking forward to coming out and giving it another shot again on Sunday." Sophomore Kortney Robinson (Pleasant Grove, Utah/Pleasant Grove) led the Hoyas with 12 kills while classmate Dana Dumas pitched in 11 of her own. Sophomore Courtney Cohen (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep) was an essential element off the bench with nine kills on 14 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage that topped the squad. The Blue and Gray improved as the game went on, hitting below .100 in games one and two and upping their hitting percentage to .359 and .257 in games three and four, respectively. An impressive .429 performance on 19 kills helped the Red Storm win game one handily, 30-15. The Hoyas improved in game two but could not convert on a mere 10 kills against St. John's 19. In game three, the Hoyas continued to trail despite a newly-energized offense. Georgetown was unable to take a lead as SJU converted 12 of its first 16 points on kills. As the Red Storm extended the lead to seven points (22-15), Georgetown took its first timeout. The Hoyas were able to make up ground slowly with a trio of kills from junior Katherine Niesen (Gainesville, Fla./Eastside), Cohen and sophomore Kiersten McKoy (Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd). A kill from SJU's Latoya Blunt sent the Hoyas back to the drawing board as they called their second timeout of the game at 26-21. Two errant plays from the Red Storm prompted an SJU timeout. Another Blunt kill put the Hoyas behind by four (27-23) but another error gave the Hoyas hope. One more SJU kill seemed to seal the deal as the Red Storm was within two of the match. However, another two errors from St. John's swung the momentum in favor of the Hoyas and induced SJU's second timeout. Two-consecutive errors from SJU's Dana DeMayo tied up the game at 28 but a kill from Chen Chen gave the Red Storm their first match point. Yet another error off the hands of St. John's tied the game once again and Dumas converted an attack to give the Hoyas game point (30-29). With their sixth error in 11 points, the Red Storm lost a match-point opportunity and GU converted the errors into a triumphant game-three performance. Game four saw the Hoyas stay close in the first 20 points as they trailed by just two (11-9). But a 6-2 run in favor of the Red Storm prompted a GU timeout. The Red Storm nearly doubled their lead by the second Hoya timeout (24-15) but late-in-the-game errant plays from SJU kept their spirit alive. Four-straight points from St. John's, starting with a Robinson service error gave them a commanding 11-point lead (28-17) and put them in a familiar situation of being within two points of the match. A kill from Valeria Kovaleva gave St. John's its second match point which they were sure to convert with a service ace from Cassie Brooks. Georgetown returns to the court on Sunday, November 11 when they host Connecticut in its final regular-season conference matchup and its final home contest of the season. The match is slated for 2 p.m. in McDonough Arena.
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