QUEENS, N.Y. – The Butler volleyball team was defeated by St. John's on Friday night as a result of only hitting .068 as a team against the Red Storm (19-25, 17-25, 20-25). With the loss, Butler moves to 3-3 in the BIG EAST Conference and 11-7 overall.

Belle Obert and Stephanie Kranda led the team in kills with seven and six respectively. Obert was held in check to a single figure kill total for only the second time this season. She hit .095 while Kranda came in at .077. Four Bulldogs posted a negative attack percentage which led to the overall team total of .068.

"No excuses for our lack of execution tonight," Head Coach Sharon Clark said. "Our offense was highly ineffective... St. John's served tough and played great defense."

Obert and Brooke Ruffolo each recorded a service ace on Friday night. Ruffolo was also second on the team with nine digs. Senior Jadyn Yarling was in the box score with 10 digs and Obert matched Ruffolo's output with nine digs.

Kayla Bivins had one of the best outings of any Bulldog as she ended the match with seven blocks and three kills. Erica Stahl and Obert also helped BU at the net combining for eight blocks.

The Red Storm were led by Karin Palgutova and Aleksandra Wachowicz. Palgutova recorded a match-high 17 kills to go along with 12 digs for the double-double performance. Deniz Mutlugil just missed out on a double-double of her own with 43 assists and nine digs.

Set one belonged to the Red Storm as St. John's broke a 6-6 tie with a kill from Ashley Boursiquot and they never looked back to grab a 1-0 lead with a 25-19 win.

Butler came out strong in the second set to open up a 4-1 lead, but that advantage quickly disappeared as the Red Storm knotted the score at 6-6. The story of set two was St. John's going on a 6-0 run to break an 11-11 tie. Julia Cast led the charge by recording three of the six points during the scoring run. Butler would never recover as Cast and the Red Storm took a 2-0 lead into the break with a 25-17 win.

Another large scoring run from St. John's told the story in set three as the Red Storm scored six-straight to break an early 3-3 tie. Butler continued to fight and eventually tied the score at 19-19, but crunch time belonged to Karin Palgutova and the Red Storm as St. John's ended the night on a 6-1 run to earn the sweep.

Butler will return to action tomorrow with a 5 p.m. match at Providence.