WASHINGTON – Georgetown University's volleyball team dropped a tough 3-2 (26-24, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-12) decision on the road at St. John's in BIG EAST action on Saturday evening. The Hoyas fall to 13-10 overall and 6-5 in league play.

Alyssa Sinnette (Pearland, Texas / Dawson) posted her fifth double-double of the season to lead the Hoyas with a match-high 18 kills to go with 14 digs. Symone Speech (Oak Park, Ill. / Oak Park-River Forest) and Elissa Barbosa (San Antonio, Texas / Ronald Reagan) both added eight kills and Hannah Hamling (Warwick, N.Y. / Warwick Valley) chipped in six.

Defensively, Kenzie Higareda (Woodbridge, Va. / Forest Park) notched 15 digs, Jessica Cusi (Pacifica, Calif. / Lick-Wilmerding) added 13 and Barbosa tallied 12. At the net, Speech was credited with eight blocks while both Sinnette and Lara Adekunle (Naperville, Ill. / Metea Valley) had six.

A highly-competitive first set saw 12 ties and five lead changes while needing extra points to determine the winner. Neither side could pull away from the other as no lead was greater than three points following an early 8-4 Georgetown advantage. Tied at 20-20, St. John's pushed to set point at 24-22 to force a Georgetown timeout, but the Hoyas won back-to-back points out of the huddle to make it 24-24. Consecutive kills from SJU's Kayley Wood would then seal the Red Storm's 26-24 set victory.

Another 16 combined ties and lead changes highlighted the second frame. Georgetown took an early 7-3 lead on back-to-back kills from Sinnette but, following a timeout, St. John's knotted things up at 7-7. The Hoyas would control the pace the rest of the set, but the Johnnies continuously found ways to even the score, including late at 22-22. Three-straight points, capped by a solo rejection from Hamling, wrapped up the stanza with a 25-22 win for the Blue & Gray.

In the third, St. John's led early at 8-2 to force a Georgetown timeout and caused GU to burn its final timeout just six points later, up 12-4. The Hoyas would attempt to slowly chip away at the deficit, getting as close as down four at 17-13, but the Red Storm went on to take the frame, 25-18.

A back-and-forth start to the fourth set gave way to Georgetown claiming momentum with a 19-15 advantage. St. John's rallied back, tying the stanza at 22-22, but GU posted three of the final four points of the frame to win 25-23 and force the fifth and deciding set.

St. John's took the early lead in the final frame with a 5-1 advantage but the Hoyas rallied back to pull within one, down 8-7. The Red Storm would then push its lead to 11-7, but the Blue & Gray kept pace en route to scores of 12-11 and 13-12. St. John's clamped down at the end, however, winning the final two points of the match to take the fifth set by a score of 15-12.

Efrosini Alexakou led St. John's with 13 kills while Rachele Rastelli and Hanna Wagner added 12 and 11, respectively. Amanda Sanabia had a match-high 26 digs for the Red Storm.

Georgetown returns to action as it hosts Villanova next Friday on the Hilltop.