JAMAICA, N.Y.  Senior Amanda Berg (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) had a career-high 24 kills to lead the St. Johns University volleyball team to a five-game win (8-15, 15-13, 15-11, 12-15, 15-11) over the visiting Syracuse Orangewomen Sunday afternoon in a BIG EAST matchup in Alumni Hall.

The win improves the Red Storms record to 22-7, and 5-3 in the BIG EAST. The Orange fell to 21-9, 4-4 in the league.

Berg was one of four St. Johns players in double figures in kills, as senior Olga Roudovski (Brooklyn, N.Y./Sheepshead Bay) had a match-high 31 kills to spark the offense. Senior Aleeza Miller (Los Angeles, Calif./Cal-Berkeley) also notched a career-high with 22 kills and only five errors for a .386 percentage. Junior Kristy Mercein (East Meadow, N.Y./East Meadow) led the defense with 21 digs and added 12 kills.

After falling behind 1-0, the Storm put together a great rally in the second game. Down 12-4, the Storm strung together an amazing 8-0 run and tied the game at 12-12 by taking advantage of an error by Noreen Carroll. Syracuse immediately got a side out and regained the lead at 13-12. St. Johns regained its serve and freshman Robyn Kurasaki (Milliani, Hawaii/Maryknoll) served up an ace to tie the game at 13-13. From there, a kill by Roudovski and an ace by freshman Rosalyn Dang (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou) closed out the game for the Storm, tying the match at 1-1.

St. Johns took a quick 3-0 lead to start the third game and never lost it, though the Orange did rally to tie the game at 7-7. The Storm then scored four unanswered points and kept the Orange at bay, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth game was much of the same for the Storm in the early going, as they assumed a 3-0 lead once again. But the Orange fought back to take a 5-3 lead. The rest of the game was a hard-fought seesaw battle, until the Storm had a 9-7 lead. From there the Orange scored five straight points to go up 12-9. From there the Orange would not lose their lead, and went on to win 15-12 to force a deciding fifth game.

In the fifth, the lead changed hands four times and there were four ties before a definitive run was made. With the score knotted 9-9, Roudovski smacked down a kill to put the Storm up 10-9. But Julianna Stokes answered right away with a kill of her own to tie it at 10-10. Miller then countered with a kill which ignited a 4-0 run by the Storm to put them one point away from victory.

Dana Fiume got one back with one of her team-high 27 kills, but Roudovski put down the game winner and the Storm emerged victorious.

Kurasaki set a school record for assists in a match with 83 to go along with eight digs and three blocks. Freshman Mariela Barraza (Elmont, N.Y./Elmont Memorial) also had a career-high 13 digs.

The Storm will be back in action on Saturday, November 4, when they travel to Philadelphia to face the Villanova Wildcats in a key BIG EAST match at 1:00.