St. John’s Sweeps Manhattan to Open 2018 Season

Friday, August 24

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

11:00 AM

St. John's University

(1-0)

Manhattan

(0-1)

Manhattan

St. John's

8/24/2018 6:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Red Storm hit .500 in dominating first victory

By: Queens, N.Y.

In the first match of the fifth-annual Jack Kaiser Classic the St. John's volleyball team opened the 2018 season sweeping Manhattan College 3-0 (25-8, 25-8, 25-7) moving to a 12-2 all-time record against the Jaspers.

The Red Storm (1-0) never trailed in the contest and made it tough on the Jaspers (0-1) from start to finish. The Johnnies hit the ball at a high percentage, having only two errors in three sets. St. John's ended with a .500 team clip compared to -.057 for Manhattan.

The Johnnies scored the first eight points of the match and never looked back. Lexie Lobdell and Jordan McCalla led the way with three kills each in the first set representing an efficient opening frame for the Red Storm as they finished without an error in the first set. Erica Di Maulo added 19 assists with seven of them coming in the frame one.

The second set also ended 25-8 in favor of St. John's. The Red Storm opened with a 7-2 lead thanks to consecutive service aces by Rachele Rastelli. The freshman started all three sets for the Johnnies in her first collegiate match recording four aces, three of which came in set two. The Parma, Italy, native added two kills in the second frame.

St. John's got out to a hot start in the third set scoring the first eight points as well as 17 of the first 18 points in the frame. The Red Storm recorded 16 kills in the set as a team with Hanna Wagner leading the way with six. The junior finished the match with 11 kills to lead the Johnnies. The Schwerin, Germany, native returned this season after posting the third-highest single-season hitting percentage in program history (.356) and continued to hit at a high clip posting a .786 percentage in her first outing of 2018. Yanjiao Zhao entered the set and made the most of her time on the floor delivering 10 assists in the one frame.

The Johnnies controlled both sides of the ball for the entire match. Offensively, they had the advantage in kills (35), service aces (11), and assists (33). St. John's also led the way in blocks with seven and digs with 31.

The Red Storm has now won the season opener in nine consecutive seasons and is looking for their third-straight Jack Kaiser Classic title. St. John's will play one more game on Friday at 7 p.m. against Central Connecticut in Carnesecca Arena.