Pitt
at St. John's
Pitt Volleyball Drops Second Straight Heading Into Big East Championships
11/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 12, 2005
JAMAICA, N.Y. - The Pitt volleyball team lost its second match in as many days heading into the Big East Championships, dropping a 3-0 decision to host St. John's on Saturday evening at Carnasecca Arena.
The Panthers (16-11, 9-5 Big East) held just one lead during the match, scoring the first two points of the third and final set, dropping games of 30-18, 30-27 and 30-21. The Red Storm (23-8, 9-5) moved past the Panthers in the Big East standings with the victory.
Pitt hit just .050 for the match, while holding St. John's to a .168 hitting clip. The Panthers did have an individual milestone reached as senior Gini Ullery (Tracy, Calif./Tracy) became the fourth player in Pitt history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. Ullery had nine kills and added eight digs to give her 1,002.
St. John's had three players in double figures in kills, including 14 by Shameka Mitchell, 12 by freshman Hui Ping Huang to go along with 20 digs, and 11 by Patti Hardiman, who also had 18 digs for a double-double.
Pitt sophomore Diana Andreyko (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) led the Panthers with 11 kills but also had 11 attack errors in the match. A bright spot for the Panthers was senior libero Megan McGrane (Muncie, Ind./Delta) posting 25 digs in three games, averaging over eight per frame. She now has 2,359 digs in her career, the fourth most in NCAA history.
Pitt has clinched the No. 6 seed for the eight-team tournament beginning Friday, Nov. 18. The Panthers will play at 6 p.m., the last of four quarterfinals against either host Louisville or Syracuse. The Cardinals (12-1 Big East) and Orange (11-2) meet tomorrow. The loser of the match will be the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
Notre Dame, Louisville and Syracuse have clinched the top three spots but no order has been determined yet. Cincinnati will be the No. 4 seed and face the Red Storm, the No. 5 seed in the quarterfinals. Marquette (7-6) has also clinched a berth in the tournament with the final spot going to either Villanova (7-6) or Rutgers (6-7).
