Red Storm Defeats Tennessee State in Five Sets

Saturday, September 8

Nacogdoches, Texas (Robert H. Shelton Gym)

11:00 AM

St. John's University

8-3

Tennessee State

1-7

Tennessee State

St. John's

9/8/2018 2:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

St. John’s ends Texas trip with a win, finish event 1-2

By: Nacogdoches, Texas

The St. John's volleyball team won its final match of The Fredonia Hotel/Holiday Inn Express SFA Invitational against Tennessee State 3-2.

The Red Storm won the first set 25-17 behind eight assists from Erica Di Maulo. The junior delivered 41 assists in the contest, including her 400^th of the season. With the Johnnies up 10-6, back-to-back kills by Rachele Rastelli from Hanna Wagner gave St. John's a 12-6 lead the team would not give up in the set.

The second set was another strong performance by the Johnnies. The Tigers got it as close as 12-10 before the Red Storm rattled off a 13-2 run to take the set 25-12. Efrosini Alexakou led the way with six kills and hit .545 in the set. The freshman recorded her first double double as a member of the Red Storm with 10 kills and 11 digs in the contest.

St. John's could not finish off Tennessee State in the third set after the Johnnies hit a clip of .029 as a team in the frame. Nia Diaz posted two kills in the set and led the team in the two-day event with a hitting percentage of .404. The Red Storm never had a lead in the third, but went on a 10-4 run late to cut the lead to 24-22 before the Tigers got the final point.

Tennessee State forced a fifth set after taking the fourth 25-20. Jordan McCalla led with five kills in the set and 16 in the match while posting her second-consecutive double double. The sophomore led the Red Storm with 37 kills in the three matches and was named to the All-Tournament Team for the first time this season.

The Johnnies took the deciding set 15-7 for their first win in Texas. St. John's got off to a 4-0 lead thanks to three errors by Tennessee State and an ace by McCalla. The Tigers were able to cut the lead to three at 9-6, but the Red Storm scored six of the final seven points to take the match with a kill by Rastelli.

Amanda Sanabia led the team with 25 digs while Sheena Yoshioka and Ariadni Kahtariou both added two service aces for the Red Storm.

St. John's will return home for a midweek matchup against Hofstra on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Carnesecca Arena.