St. John’s Falls to Villanova in Five Sets

Tuesday, September 25

Villanova, Pa. (Jake Nevin Field House)

7:00 PM

St. John's University

13-6 (2-2)

Villanova

9-6 (2-1)

St. John's

Villanova

9/25/2018 11:25:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Sanabia moves into 9th on the career digs list in loss

By: Eric Robinson

The Red Storm volleyball team fell in five sets on Tuesday night on the road against Villanova.

It marks the first time in the history of the 25-year program the Johnnies have played in four-straight five setters. The Red Storm has gone 2-2 in the four matches.

Amanda Sanabia entered the match trailing Olga Roudovski by four digs to crack the top 10 all-time in the category. The junior finished the match with 34 digs moving past tenth into ninth place all-time and setting a new career high for the libero. The Annapolis, Md., native now has 1,078 digs on her career, pushing Nicole Colaluca to tenth in program history.

Efrosini Alexakou recorded a double double and led the way with 12 kills for the Johnnies. The freshman also set a new career high with 19 digs on the evening. Erica Di Maulo also finished with a double double ending the match with 37 assists and 13 digs. The setter added six kills and four blocks.

Villanova took the first set 25-23 with Alexakou and Rachele Rastelli leading with three kills each. Rastelli added two service aces and a block in the set. The Wildcats jumped out to a 10-5 lead and extended the margin to 18-9 before the Red Storm started to come back. St. John's would go on a 7-1 run to cut the deficit to three before the Wildcats took the set.

The Red Storm answered by taking the second set 26-24 behind a spread out attack that saw five Johnnies record at least two kills. Sanabia led the way with 13 digs in a second frame that saw St. John's come out ahead despite being outhit .102 to .017. Nia Diaz posted two service aces in set two to set a new career high. The redshirt junior added six kills in the match.

There were 11 ties and seven lead changes in the second set and with the score tied 24-24, a kill by Di Maulo and a block by Diaz and Rastelli evened the match at one set all.

Villanova took a match lead by taking the third set 25-22 setting up a must-win fourth set for the Johnnies. Jordan McCalla responded with four kills in the frame and added a block. The sophomore finished the match with 10 kills to finish second on the team. The Red Storm never trailed in the set and the Wildcats never even brought it to a tie once St. John's scored the first point. St. John's went up 10-1 and took control to force a fifth set.

The Red Storm jumped out to a 4-2 lead thanks to two kills by McCalla. Villanova responded by going on an 8-2 of its own to put the Johnnies down 10-6. St. John's got it as close as 11-10 before an ace by Clare Delaplane ended the match and pushed the Johnnies back to .500 in conference play.

St. John's will return home to face Seton Hall on Saturday at 5 p.m.