St. John's University Athletics
2016 St. John's Volleyball Season Preview
8/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Video: 2016 Season Preview
2016 Schedule
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QUEENS, N.Y. - As St. John's volleyball enters its 23rd season, Joanne Persico will look to build off last year's 18-win campaign in hopes of getting back to the top of the BIG EAST Conference in 2016.
Persico owns 424 career wins and is the longest-tenured coach in the BIG EAST Conference. She has been at the helm for the Red Storm since the program's inception in 1994 and has led St. John's to 14 winning seasons, including three BIG EAST Regular Season Championships and one BIG EAST Tournament Championship in 2007. She also guided the Johnnies to the Round of 16 in 2007, one of only two current BIG EAST programs to reach this plateau in the NCAA Championship.
The squad returns three starters from last season in Margherita Bianchin, Danisha Moss and Julia Cast.
"We are going to look towards Julia Cast from Long Island, N.Y. who was a Second Team All-BIG EAST member last season. She brings not only leadership, but great offensive numbers for us as well," said Persico.
Bianchin, a sophomore, will look to improve on her stellar rookie campaign, which saw her record 237 kills, 181 digs and 16 aces. Moss led the Red Storm in blocks with 115, while picking up 74 kills a season ago. Cast, a junior from Westbury, N.Y., notched 262 kills and 88 blocks last season, both of which were second best on the team. She was named to the All-BIG EAST Second Team a season ago and was also selected to the 2016 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
St. John's finished the 2015 season with an 18-15 record, including picking up eight wins in the difficult BIG EAST Conference. The Red Storm also registered a winning record at home for the fourth-straight year.
The 2016 St. John's roster will feature two seniors (Melissa Chin and Mona Karkkainen), five juniors (Cast, Delaney D'Amore, Hope Demel, Moss, Nikki Sen), three sophomores (Bianchin, Lexie Lobdell, Raya O'Neal) and four freshmen (Nia Diaz, Erica Di Maulo, Gaia Traballi and Hanna Wagner).
"We are excited for the season, as we have some new faces and great opportunities for the players the fans haven't seen," said Persico.
MIDDLE BLOCKER/MIDDLE HITTER
The Red Storm returns three to the middle in 2016 Cast, Diaz and Moss. Cast and Moss will anchor the middle for the Johnnies after they combined for 203 blocks last season. A 6-foot-4 junior, Cast ranked fourth in the BIG EAST last season with a team-high hitting percentage of .333. Diaz, a redshirt freshman Nanuet, N.Y., will be in action this season for the Johnnies after redshirting last year and will provide a boost up front for the Red Storm. Wagner, a newcomer, brings international experience to the roster after serving as a key middle blocker for her club team Schweriner SC., as they won the U20 German Championship a season ago.
LIBERO/DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST
The Libero position boasts the most experienced on the Red Storm roster, with three student-athletes who are all upperclassmen in D'Amore, Chin and Sen. D'Amore will serve as the defensive anchor for the Red Storm after she played in all 33 matches and recorded a team-high 382 digs last season. Chin is one of only two seniors on this year's Red Storm squad and notched 85 digs in 2015. Sen will be another defensive weapon for the Johnnies playing in 8 sets last season.
SETTER
St. John's will boast an array of options at the setter position with Demel and O'Neal returning to the squad and Di Maulo joining the team. Di Maulo brings leadership, even as a freshman, to the Johnnies serving as team captain of Italian club team Progetto Volley Orago from 2012-15. In limited action last season, Demel dished out 23 assists in nine sets averaging 2.53 a/s. O'Neal will hit the court for the Red Storm this season after redshirting in 2015.
OUTSIDE HITTER
The Red Storm will feature four solid outside hitters, led by Bianchin, who had a terrific freshman season for St. John's. She started 25 matches while picking up 237 kills and 16 aces, good enough for third best on the squad. The other senior on the Red Storm is Karkkainen, who has been a consistent outside hitter for the Red Storm playing in at least 75 sets every season. Lobdell adds some depth to this position and had 21 kills in 35 sets a season ago. Traballi, a 6-foot-1 freshman, rounds out the outside hitter position and was an outstanding beach volleyball player in Italy. She won the National Beach Volleyball Championship in 2015 and was also named MVP of the tournament.
SCHEDULE
St. John's 2016 season begins in Smithfield, R.I., at the Chace Athletic Center for the Bryant Hampton-invitational (Aug. 26) where the Johnnies take on Rutgers and host-Bryant before heading to Iona to face the Gaels at the Hynes Athletic Center (Aug. 30).
Next up, the Red Storm will return home to host the two-day Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic for the third-straight year. St. John's opens the tournament with Niagara (Sept. 2) before taking on La Salle and Binghamton the following day.
After the Kaiser Classic, the Johnnies will head out west to the San Francisco Invitational (Sept. 9-10), where they take on the Dons for the second-consecutive season. The following day, St. John's will play another California program in UC Santa Barbara before facing Brown to wrap up the tournament.
St. John's will then stay on the road against the MAAC Champion Fairfield (Sept. 14) for a showdown at Alumni Hall. The final regular season tournament for the Red Storm will be the West Point Invitational (Sept. 16-17) where the first match is an in-state battle against Albany. The first of two matches the next day begins with Delaware State and the last match of the tournament is against former BIG EAST rival Connecticut for its final regular season non-conference match.
"We are also going to host our Kaiser Classic and visit West Point to play Albany, Delaware State and UConn. This will give us a great opportunity to see where we are at before BIG EAST play begins," said Persico.
The Red Storm opens up conference play on Sept. 20 in the nation's capital with a match against Georgetown. The following weekend, St. John's returns home for matchups against Xavier (Sept. 23), and Butler (Sept. 24).
A midweek road matchup against longtime BIG EAST rival Villanova (Sept.27) is next for the Johnnies. The Wildcats made their second ever NCAA Tournament appearance last season. The Red Storm leads off the month of October with a three-match homestand, beginning with Seton Hall (Oct. 1).St. John's will then host Marquette (Oct. 7), who has made each of the last five NCAA Tournaments, before welcoming DePaul (Oct. 8) to Carnesecca Arena the following day to wrap up the homestand.
On Oct. 14, St. John's will start a four-game road trip beginning with the defending BIG EAST Tournament Champions Creighton. The Red Storm then takes on Providence (Oct. 16), before heading to the Midwest to face Xavier (Oct. 20) and Butler (Oct. 21).
The Johnnies return back to Carnesecca Arena for the next four matches to face Providence (Oct. 28), Creighton (Oct. 29), Villanova (Nov. 4) and Georgetown (Nov. 5) to wrap up its home matches for the year.
The final three games of the regular season are all played on the road and starts in the Chicago metropolitan area against DePaul (Nov. 12). St. John's will head to Milwaukee, Wis., the next day for a showdown with Marquette (Nov. 13), before finishing the regular season at Seton Hall (Nov. 19).
The 2016 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship (Nov. 25-26) will be held in Indianapolis, Ind., at Hinkle Field House.
For all the latest news on the St. John's volleyball team, log on to RedStormSports.com and follow the team (@StJohnsVB) on Twitter. You can join the conversation with #SJUVB. If you would like to be added to the St. John's volleyball mailing list, send an email to stjcommunications@stjohns.edu with the subject line "Volleyball Mailing List".
