St. John’s Prepares for Hofstra Invitational

            QUEENS, N.Y. (Sept. 18, 2019) – After improving its record to 6-5 on the season following a 2-1 showing in Florida, the St. John's volleyball team will make a pair of trips to Hempstead to take on marquee opponents at the 2019 Hofstra Invitational.

            The Johnnies will open the tournament on Thursday night against No. 14 Oregon at 7 p.m. before capping off the weekend with a Saturday matchup against Duke at 12 p.m. This will be St. John's final non-conference tournament before BIG EAST play begins against at DePaul next Friday.

            Last weekend, the Red Storm collected a pair of straight-set victories against Stony Brook and Florida A&M before suffering a hard-fought defeat at the hands of then-No.25 Florida State during the Home2 Suites Tallahassee Seminole Invitational.

            Each of St. John's five losses this season have taken place against teams that appeared in last year's NCAA Tournament, with three of them coming against top 25-ranked opponents in 2019.

            Sophomores Efrosini Alexakou and Rachele Rastelli were both named to the All-Tournament Team after recording double-doubles in a loss to Florida State that went to extra points twice in three sets. Alexakou put down 36 kills across three contests, 15 of which came against the Seminoles, and averaged four kills per set. Rastelli posted 12 kills and 12 digs against Florida State.

            Setter Erica Di Maulo dished out a total of 93 helpers in Tallahassee, extending her career total to 4,157 assists. Di Maulo is now just 217 away from surpassing St. John's great Wioleta Leszczynska for third place on the all-time assists list. The Milan, Italy, native ranks first in the BIG EAST with 353 assists (11.03 per set), while also pacing the field with 0.56 service aces per set.

            Reigning BIG EAST Libero of the Year Amanda Sanabia will look to move up the all-time digs leaderboard after digging out 47 balls at the Seminole Invitational. Sanabia currently has 1,548 career digs, just 16 away from claiming the fourth-highest total in program history.

            Oregon enters the tournament with a 3-3 record in 2019 after reaching the national quarterfinal of last year's NCAA Tournament.

            The Ducks return Ronika Stone, Willow Johnson and Brooke Nuneviller, all of whom earned All-America honors in 2018 and were selected to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team. Stone leads Oregon with 72 kills and ranks second on the team with 20 blocks this season.

            Oregon also welcomes four true freshmen to the team, adding highly-touted libero Georgia Murphy, setter Elise Ferreira and Oregon's top-rated recruit, Taylor Williams.

            St. John's will look to pick up its first win over Oregon on Thursday, with the Ducks posting a 2-0 all-time record against the Red Storm.

            Duke holds a 5-5 record this season following three-straight losses at the Blue Devil Classic to American, Northwestern and Georgia.

            The Blue Devils made their 20th NCAA Tournament appearance last season and return five starters in Lily Cooper, Mackenzie Cole, Samantha Amos, Sarah Nelson and Preseason All-ACC Team selection Payton Schwantz.

            Duke also brings back 2018 All-ACC Freshman Team member Ade Owokoniran. Owokoniran leads the squad with 79 kills while adding 30 digs and five blocks in 2019.

            Saturday's match will mark the first-ever meeting between St. John's and Duke.

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Players Mentioned

Efrosini Alexakou

Erica Di Maulo

Rachele Rastelli

Amanda Sanabia

St. John's University Athletics