St. John's University Athletics
Thursday, December 5
College Station, TX
7:30 p.m. ET
St. John's University
at
Texas A&M
St. John’s Readies for No. 13 Texas A&M in NCAA First Round
12/5/2019 12:01:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Red Storm enter the tournament for the first time since making it to the Round of 16 in 2007
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Dec. 4, 2019) – After capturing the BIG EAST title to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last weekend, the St. John's volleyball team will take on No. 13 seed Texas A&M on Thursday night for a first-round matchup beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The contest will be available on SEC Network+ with Casey Richardson and Chelsea Reber on the call.
"We know that [Texas A&M] is a great serving team and we need to take care of the first touch," said Head Coach Joanne Persico. "We need to take care of every touch, but obviously the first touch. I know a lot of teams say that and then try to do that. Really, it's just about serve and pass for us and for them too. It's about not allowing them to get on a lot of runs and trying to compete and stay in it at a high level, but we know that they're a great serving team so how we are in-system and how we are out-of-system will dictate a lot of the match."
The Red Storm enter the tournament for the third time in program history after advancing to the Round of 16 in 2007. The Johnnies' other appearance came in 2006 when the team made it to the Round of 32.
St. John's took down four AVCA Top-100 opponents this season with two of those wins coming in the conference tournament against then-No. 10 Creighton and then-No. 12 Marquette.
Efrosini Alexakou was named the tournament's most outstanding player after putting down 29 kills across the two matches. Alexakou, along with senior setter Erica Di Maulo and sophomore right side hitter Rachele Rastelli, earned a nod to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team.
The Red Storm (22-11, 12-6 BIG EAST) picked up 29 votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll earlier this week after capturing the league championship.
Texas A&M (21-7, 13-5 SEC) enters Thursday's matchup after falling to No. 15 Florida, the SEC Co-Champion, in five sets last Friday.
The Aggies earned their 25th NCAA Tournament bid in program history following a regular season that featured a pair of late ranked wins over then-No. 15 Kentucky on Nov. 1 and then-No. 24 Missouri two days later.
Texas A&M went 8-2 in non-conference play with both of their losses coming at the hands of ranked foes and eventual tournament teams in Texas and Louisville.
Junior setter Camille Conner and senior outside hitter Hollann Hans each earned spots on the All-SEC team this season. Conner ranked fifth in the conference with 9.65 assists per set while Hans' 471 kills were good enough for second in the league.
Freshman outside hitter Lauren Davis and opposite hitter Treyaunna Rush were both named to the All-SEC Freshman Team. Davis ranks second on the squad with 234 kills. Rush has amassed 158 kills and has 73 blocks in 2019.
The Aggies finished fourth in the SEC this season.
Thursday's contest will be the first-ever meeting between St. John's and Texas A&M. The winner will go on to face the victor of the first-round match between Rice and Oklahoma on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The contest will be available on SEC Network+ with Casey Richardson and Chelsea Reber on the call.
"We know that [Texas A&M] is a great serving team and we need to take care of the first touch," said Head Coach Joanne Persico. "We need to take care of every touch, but obviously the first touch. I know a lot of teams say that and then try to do that. Really, it's just about serve and pass for us and for them too. It's about not allowing them to get on a lot of runs and trying to compete and stay in it at a high level, but we know that they're a great serving team so how we are in-system and how we are out-of-system will dictate a lot of the match."
The Red Storm enter the tournament for the third time in program history after advancing to the Round of 16 in 2007. The Johnnies' other appearance came in 2006 when the team made it to the Round of 32.
St. John's took down four AVCA Top-100 opponents this season with two of those wins coming in the conference tournament against then-No. 10 Creighton and then-No. 12 Marquette.
Efrosini Alexakou was named the tournament's most outstanding player after putting down 29 kills across the two matches. Alexakou, along with senior setter Erica Di Maulo and sophomore right side hitter Rachele Rastelli, earned a nod to the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team.
The Red Storm (22-11, 12-6 BIG EAST) picked up 29 votes in the AVCA Coaches' Poll earlier this week after capturing the league championship.
Texas A&M (21-7, 13-5 SEC) enters Thursday's matchup after falling to No. 15 Florida, the SEC Co-Champion, in five sets last Friday.
The Aggies earned their 25th NCAA Tournament bid in program history following a regular season that featured a pair of late ranked wins over then-No. 15 Kentucky on Nov. 1 and then-No. 24 Missouri two days later.
Texas A&M went 8-2 in non-conference play with both of their losses coming at the hands of ranked foes and eventual tournament teams in Texas and Louisville.
Junior setter Camille Conner and senior outside hitter Hollann Hans each earned spots on the All-SEC team this season. Conner ranked fifth in the conference with 9.65 assists per set while Hans' 471 kills were good enough for second in the league.
Freshman outside hitter Lauren Davis and opposite hitter Treyaunna Rush were both named to the All-SEC Freshman Team. Davis ranks second on the squad with 234 kills. Rush has amassed 158 kills and has 73 blocks in 2019.
The Aggies finished fourth in the SEC this season.
Thursday's contest will be the first-ever meeting between St. John's and Texas A&M. The winner will go on to face the victor of the first-round match between Rice and Oklahoma on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
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