St. John's University Athletics
Friday, August 24
Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)
11:00 AM
St. John's University
vs
Manhattan
St. John’s to Begin 2018 Volleyball Season with the Jack Kaiser Classic
8/23/2018 2:21:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Red Storm to host four other schools in the fifth-annual event
The Red Storm volleyball team will begin the 2018 season on Friday, Aug. 24, with the fifth-annual Jack Kaiser Classic. The Johnnies have won the tournament the last two seasons and will attempt to defend their title at Carnesecca Arena against four other schools.
The Johnnies will open the season on Friday at 11 a.m. against Manhattan before closing out the first day of the event in a matchup with Central Connecticut at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Red Storm will take on Fordham at 10 a.m. before wrapping up the tournament at 4 p.m. with Eastern Michigan. All four St. John's matches will take place in Carnesecca Arena and will be broadcast live on RedStormSports.com, the official website of St. John's Athletics.
For the fifth-straight year the Red Storm will host a tournament named after Jack Kaiser. A former head coach of the St. John's baseball program and athletic director of the University, Kaiser played an integral role in the formation of the BIG EAST Conference in 1979 and has been the recipient of a multitude of awards due to his many contributions to collegiate athletics.
St. John's went 3-1 last season at the Jack Kaiser Classic, defeating Holy Cross, Sacramento State, and New Hampshire before falling to UConn. The Red Storm had three athletes named to the 2017 Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team including Erica Di Maulo who was named the Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. Jordan McCalla and Hanna Wagner joined her on the all-tournament team.
Di Maulo, a two-time All-BIG EAST First Team honoree is one of four returning starters for the Red Storm. The setter from Milan, Italy, earned a spot on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team for the second-consecutive season and ranks fifth in program history with 2,415 career assists.
Offensively, St. John's also brings back Wagner. The junior hit the ball at a high percentage for the Johnnies in 2017, posting the third-highest hitting percentage in a single season in St. John's history (.356). The Johnnies also return McCalla and Kayley Wood, each of whom recorded more than 250 kills in their first years.
On the other side of the ball, Wagner finished with the tenth-best season in St. John's history with 126 blocks. Junior Amanda Sanabia also returns as the team leader in digs from a season ago. Her 482 digs were the sixth-most in a single-season at St. John's.
Five newcomers join the Red Storm in 2018 from four different countries. Rachele Rastelli joins from Italy, Efrosini Alexakou and Ariadni Kathariou come from Greece, Jovana Askovic hails from Serbia, and Sheena Yoshioka arrives in Queens from Hawaii.
Manhattan features a mix of veterans and newcomers with six seniors alongside five freshmen and four sophomores. Lora Sarich is entering her second year as the head coach of the Jaspers and led the team to a 2-29 finish last season. The Jaspers return five players who started at least 10 matches in 2017. Erin Hoener ranked second on the team in kills last season with 174 and led Manhattan in hitting percentage (.289). The Jaspers went just 2-16 in conference play last season, but Alyssa Rehrer performed well against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponents. The senior averaged over five digs per set in MAAC play, which was the second-highest total in the conference. Friday marks the first meeting between these two schools since 2010. St. John's has won its last three matches against the Jaspers and carries an all-time 11-2 series lead. The Johnnies have never lost to Manhattan at home.
Central Connecticut achieved their highest win total since 2013 last season with a record of 19-8. Head Coach Linda Sagnelli, the reigning Northeast Conference Coach of the Year, enters her 19th season at the helm of the Blue Devils. After going 11-3 against conference opponents in 2017, the Blue Devils earned a three-way share of the regular season conference title with LIU Brooklyn and Bryant. Central Connecticut saw four players earn all-conference honors in 2017, including 2018 returners Madelyn Kaprelyan and Morgan Woycik. Kaprelyan led the team in kills and points last season and finished 10th in the NEC in kills per set. This marks the second time Central Connecticut has participated in the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic. In 2015, the Blue Devils went 1-3 in the event, falling to St. John's in straight sets.
Fordham's Ian Choi enters his first campaign as head coach after serving as an assistant coach for the team last season. The Rams went 12-15 in 2017 and finished tied for seventh in the Atlantic 10. The Rams return the A-10's leader in kills per set, Olivia Fairchild. The junior averaged 3.57 kills per set, started all 27 matches last season, and was one of two Rams to earn all-conference honors. Sophomore McKenna Lahr is the other, coming off a season that put her on the Atlantic 10's All-Rookie Team. Service aces were one of the strengths of this squad in 2017, as their 192 aces led the conference last season. The Rams have had a tough time historically playing St. John's, as the Johnnies own a 17-1 record against Fordham all-time. The most recent contest between these two schools came in 2013, a straight-set win for the Red Storm.
Eastern Michigan returns four student-athletes who started at least 20 matches for the team in 2017 and will bring back most of its roster from last year. The team graduated two seniors last season and will bring in six newcomers in 2018. One returner is Jordan Smith, a senior with 885 career kills. Smith currently ranks 15th in kills at Eastern Michigan since 1999 and led the team with 373 kills in 2017. The Eagles had 16 wins last season, their highest total under current head coach Kimi Olson and the team's winningest campaign since 2014. Eastern Michigan led the Mid-American Conference with 320 blocks in 2017, averaging 2.46 per set. The final match of the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic will also be the first ever match between Eastern Michigan and St. John's.
The Johnnies will open the season on Friday at 11 a.m. against Manhattan before closing out the first day of the event in a matchup with Central Connecticut at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Red Storm will take on Fordham at 10 a.m. before wrapping up the tournament at 4 p.m. with Eastern Michigan. All four St. John's matches will take place in Carnesecca Arena and will be broadcast live on RedStormSports.com, the official website of St. John's Athletics.
For the fifth-straight year the Red Storm will host a tournament named after Jack Kaiser. A former head coach of the St. John's baseball program and athletic director of the University, Kaiser played an integral role in the formation of the BIG EAST Conference in 1979 and has been the recipient of a multitude of awards due to his many contributions to collegiate athletics.
St. John's went 3-1 last season at the Jack Kaiser Classic, defeating Holy Cross, Sacramento State, and New Hampshire before falling to UConn. The Red Storm had three athletes named to the 2017 Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic All-Tournament Team including Erica Di Maulo who was named the Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row. Jordan McCalla and Hanna Wagner joined her on the all-tournament team.
Di Maulo, a two-time All-BIG EAST First Team honoree is one of four returning starters for the Red Storm. The setter from Milan, Italy, earned a spot on the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team for the second-consecutive season and ranks fifth in program history with 2,415 career assists.
Offensively, St. John's also brings back Wagner. The junior hit the ball at a high percentage for the Johnnies in 2017, posting the third-highest hitting percentage in a single season in St. John's history (.356). The Johnnies also return McCalla and Kayley Wood, each of whom recorded more than 250 kills in their first years.
On the other side of the ball, Wagner finished with the tenth-best season in St. John's history with 126 blocks. Junior Amanda Sanabia also returns as the team leader in digs from a season ago. Her 482 digs were the sixth-most in a single-season at St. John's.
Five newcomers join the Red Storm in 2018 from four different countries. Rachele Rastelli joins from Italy, Efrosini Alexakou and Ariadni Kathariou come from Greece, Jovana Askovic hails from Serbia, and Sheena Yoshioka arrives in Queens from Hawaii.
Manhattan features a mix of veterans and newcomers with six seniors alongside five freshmen and four sophomores. Lora Sarich is entering her second year as the head coach of the Jaspers and led the team to a 2-29 finish last season. The Jaspers return five players who started at least 10 matches in 2017. Erin Hoener ranked second on the team in kills last season with 174 and led Manhattan in hitting percentage (.289). The Jaspers went just 2-16 in conference play last season, but Alyssa Rehrer performed well against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponents. The senior averaged over five digs per set in MAAC play, which was the second-highest total in the conference. Friday marks the first meeting between these two schools since 2010. St. John's has won its last three matches against the Jaspers and carries an all-time 11-2 series lead. The Johnnies have never lost to Manhattan at home.
Central Connecticut achieved their highest win total since 2013 last season with a record of 19-8. Head Coach Linda Sagnelli, the reigning Northeast Conference Coach of the Year, enters her 19th season at the helm of the Blue Devils. After going 11-3 against conference opponents in 2017, the Blue Devils earned a three-way share of the regular season conference title with LIU Brooklyn and Bryant. Central Connecticut saw four players earn all-conference honors in 2017, including 2018 returners Madelyn Kaprelyan and Morgan Woycik. Kaprelyan led the team in kills and points last season and finished 10th in the NEC in kills per set. This marks the second time Central Connecticut has participated in the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic. In 2015, the Blue Devils went 1-3 in the event, falling to St. John's in straight sets.
Fordham's Ian Choi enters his first campaign as head coach after serving as an assistant coach for the team last season. The Rams went 12-15 in 2017 and finished tied for seventh in the Atlantic 10. The Rams return the A-10's leader in kills per set, Olivia Fairchild. The junior averaged 3.57 kills per set, started all 27 matches last season, and was one of two Rams to earn all-conference honors. Sophomore McKenna Lahr is the other, coming off a season that put her on the Atlantic 10's All-Rookie Team. Service aces were one of the strengths of this squad in 2017, as their 192 aces led the conference last season. The Rams have had a tough time historically playing St. John's, as the Johnnies own a 17-1 record against Fordham all-time. The most recent contest between these two schools came in 2013, a straight-set win for the Red Storm.
Eastern Michigan returns four student-athletes who started at least 20 matches for the team in 2017 and will bring back most of its roster from last year. The team graduated two seniors last season and will bring in six newcomers in 2018. One returner is Jordan Smith, a senior with 885 career kills. Smith currently ranks 15th in kills at Eastern Michigan since 1999 and led the team with 373 kills in 2017. The Eagles had 16 wins last season, their highest total under current head coach Kimi Olson and the team's winningest campaign since 2014. Eastern Michigan led the Mid-American Conference with 320 blocks in 2017, averaging 2.46 per set. The final match of the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic will also be the first ever match between Eastern Michigan and St. John's.
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
RS/OH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
RS
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
MB/RS
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
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