The Georgetown volleyball team (9-20, 3-13 Big East) endured a pair of difficult losses over the weekend, dropping a 3-1 decision to St. John’s University (19-12, 8-8 Big East) on Friday before falling 3-0 to Providence College (6-24, 2-14 Big East) on Sunday. The Hoyas have now completed their road schedule and will finish their season with two home games next weekend.

Against St. John’s, senior outside hitter Alex Johnson led the Hoyas with 16 kills and sophomore middle blocker Ashlie Williams added nine more. Junior libero Emily Gisolfi had 13 digs and freshman setter Casey Speer recorded 39 assists.

Early in the first set, St. John’s went on a 6-1 run to earn a 9-4 lead that it would not relinquish en route to a relatively routine 25-17 set victory. In the second set, Georgetown fell behind 6-4 before rattling off seven consecutive points, including two Johnson kills and a service ace by Williams, to earn an 11-6 lead. After a timeout, St. John’s fought back to earn a 12-12 tie. The Red Storm then won four consecutive points to extend to a 17-13 lead and the Hoyas were never able to close within two points for the remainder of the set, which St. John’s won by a score of 25-20.

The Red Storm maintained a small lead for most of the beginning of the third set, eventually stretching the score to 20-15. However, the Hoyas then mounted a spirited comeback, winning 10 of the next 12 points to grab the set, 25-22. Head Coach Arlisa Williams was pleased with her team’s performance in earning the third set victory.

“I think that it was a shift in our mindset more than anything else. We knew that we were playing close with St. John’s and that if we could just step it up with our defensive effort, get some more blocks, take a few smarter swings, that we would be right there and able to win, and that’s what we did. We stepped it up,” Coach Williams said.

Unfortunately for the Hoyas, their momentum was short-lived as St. John’s began the fourth set with renewed energy and ran away with the set, 25-11. Speer credited the Red Storm for their effort in closing out the match.

“They were mad that we took the third set, so they came back really aggressive and we weren’t ready to combat that,” Speer said.

Junior Karin Palgutova and senior Aleksandra Wachowicz, who represent perhaps the most imposing pair of outside hitters in the Big East, led the Red Storm by recording 21 kills apiece.

“Both [Palgutova] and [Wachowicz] have every single shot in the book. They can swing line, then can swing cross-court, they can swing hard cross, they use hands, they’ll come in hard and then offspeed. And so they’re very difficult to defend and they’ve been that way all year,” Coach Williams said.

Against Providence, the Hoyas suffered an extremely disappointing loss to a team that they had defeated in straight sets on Oct. 17. Johnson recorded a double-double, with 11 kills and 10 digs, and Gisolfi led the team with 11 digs in Rhode Island.

The Hoyas started slowly in each of the first two sets, falling behind by identical 8-3 deficits early in each set. In each case, Providence was able to maintain its lead en route to 25-18 set victories. Early in the third set, the Hoyas were able to stay close to the Friars, shrinking their deficit to one point at 9-8 after a kill by freshman outside hitter Terese Cannon. However, Providence then rattled off 11 consecutive points in a span that included two Georgetown timeouts. Despite another spirited comeback attempt, the Hoyas were unable to overcome such a significant deficit, eventually falling by a score of 25-22.

“We had a lot of unforced errors, like missed serves and not handling the easy balls, which we need to do. And it all kind of snowballed. It was not a good outcome,” Speer said.

The Hoyas were unable to stop Providence’s Kayla Johnson, as the sophomore outside hitter recorded 22 kills. Johnson was also incredibly efficient, as she recorded a 50 percent attack rate.

“We could not slow down [Kayla Johnson],” Coach Williams said. “She’s a small kid with a big jump and she had a field day against us. But the other thing is, we got out dug by Providence, they hustled a little more than we did on that particular day.”

The Hoyas will look to close out their season on a positive note, as they will host Seton Hall University (25-6, 13-3 Big East) Friday, Nov. 21, and Villanova University (13-18, 6-10 Big East) on Sunday, Nov. 23. The game against Villanova will be Georgetown’s Senior Day.