Oct. 21, 2011
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University volleyball plays its first home games in 17 days this weekend when it hosts the St. John's Red Storm Friday night and the Connecticut Huskies Sunday afternoon.
The Hoyas are 10-10 on the season, and 2-5 in BIG EAST conference play. St. John's is 9-14 on the season and 0-6 in BIG EAST play, while UConn is 11-10 on the season and 1-5 in conference play.
"We're thrilled to be home," said Head Coach Arlisa Williams. "Being on the road isn't too daunting, though. Not all of the trips are easy, such as Marquette to Syracuse, but our players have been phenomenal sports about the back and forth travel. They take it in stride. However, I'm glad and I know the players are glad to be back at home. We hope to have a good showing for our Dig Pink initiative to support breast cancer education and awareness, and we're very excited to be playing back in D.C."
Georgetown is 2-1 on the road, with their only loss being to the Pittsburgh Panthers to open BIG EAST play in McDonough Arena. Their wins were against out-of-conference Virginia Commonwealth Rams and the BIG EAST rival West Virginia Mountaineers. Both of those wins were achieved in straight sets.
Coach Williams is also determined to have her players ignore the records of the incoming foes and imploring the players to take care of business as usual, especially now that they're back at home and in the thick of conference play.
"Although St. John's hasn't won a conference game, they are a stacked team. They have two very effective outside hitters, an efficient middle blocker, a right side who's very good, and depth. They are such a deep and rotational team that they can play any combination of hitters at any one time.
While we may not always know who's going to be on the floor at any particular point, nor can we perfect a game plan demonstrating how good they can be, we're still preparing to play Georgetown volleyball like we do any other game."
Senior setter Ashley Malone (San Jose, Calif./St. Francis) has accrued 786 assists on the season and 3,285 assists in her career. She sits in third place for the Hoyas' all-time career leader in assists. Senior captain libero Tory Rezin (Morris, Ill./Morris) has notched 295 digs on the season and 1,529 digs in her tenure at Georgetown. She needs 46 digs on the season to break the record and sit atop the leader board for all-time leader in digs.
Freshman middle blocker Danielle White (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) sits at third in the BIG EAST and first on the Hoyas squad in hitting percentage with a .321 on the season, and has also tallied 61 block assists, 20 digs, six block solos and four assists. Freshman outside hitter Alex Johnson (Tampa, Fla./Plant) leads the Hoyas with 207 kills and also has 28 assists, nine service aces, 178 digs, 29 block assists and 232.5 total points on the season.
"I believe the great thing about this team is that there is an even distribution of skill and talent across every position on the court," Williams said. "We have a setter who can dish the ball, a great libero who digs balls and players that can terminate in five positions. When all cylinders fire at once, we are a very challenging and dominant team that shouldn't be taken lightly.
"We are a solid defensive and blocking team, and our players at any particular spot on the floor can make the plays necessary to score, lead rallies or win the sets and matches. If we focus on minimizing the errors and playing consistently great volleyball, we are a tough team to guard and beat."
The Hoyas will face the Red Storm Friday night at 8 p.m. and square off against the Huskies Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Hoyas will have two remaining home games to close out the season in the middle of November.
