Hurricanes Blow Away Red Storm, 3-0
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com)- Miami handed St. John’s its third loss of the season with a 3-0 sweep (30-26,30-21 & 30-28) at the Knight Complex on the UM campus.
This match gave UM a glimpse of its future. In its first season of volleyballsince 1981, Miami plays as an independent for 2001 but joins BIG EAST conferenceplay next year. The Red Storm is currently tied for third in the BIG EAST standingsat 4-1.
The Hurricanes improve to 8-7 overall and 6-1 at home. St. John’s falls to 15-3.
The teams appeared evenly matched to begin game one. Tied 22-22, junior outsidehitter Marcela Gamarra (Medellin, Colombia) put the Hurricanes up for good witha blazing kill from midcourt. Miami went on to win 30-26.
The Hurricanes carried their intensity into the second game and never trailed.A kill from freshman setter Jamie Grass (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) sealed a 30-21victory.
St. John’s rallied in the third game to take a 24-19 lead. After a Hurricane timeout,Miami went on a five-point scoring run to tie the game at 24-24. Freshman middleblocker Sandra Totten (Thermal, Calif.) scored to push UM to a 25-24 lead. Tottenwould finish the match with a team-high 16 kills on 32 attacks with six errors(.312).
The Hurricanes took the third game, 30-28, on an error by St. John’s to win theirbiggest match to date.
“I thought we had an incredible team performance tonight,” said head coach NicoleLantagne. “This is a huge win for our program and indicates where we’re headed.In game one, our blocking really set the pace for the rest of the match. We gota few key blocks early and took things from there.”
Defensively, senior middle blocker Kristi Sprinkel had three solo blocks (fivetotal blocks) for the night.
“Blocking is key for us,” said Sprinkel. “It gets the momentum going on your side.It’s a great win because it sets a standard for us in the BIG EAST. Next year,going into conference play, teams will know Miami is a team that will compete.”
Miami hosts Central Florida at Noon on Saturday, October 20 at the Knight Complexon the UM campus.
For ticket information for Miami volleyball home matches, contact the UM TicketOffice at 1-800-GO-CANES.
