St. John's University Athletics
Alexakou Named BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year; St. John's Picked to Finish First in East Division
1/20/2021 1:54:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Johnnies receive the most first place votes in preseason poll of the league’s coaches
QUEENS, N.Y. (Jan. 20, 2021) – For the first time in over a decade, a St. John's volleyball student-athlete has been named the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year.
Coming off a sophomore campaign where she ranked second in the conference with 4.73 points per set and 4.23 kills per set, Efrosini Alexakou has received BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year recognition, becoming the first Johnnie to earn the honor since Wioleta Leszczynska in 2008.
The league's coaches picked St. John's to finish first in the East Division after the Johnnies captured the BIG EAST Championship and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The East Division will also include Villanova, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Providence, while Creighton, Marquette, DePaul, Xavier and Butler will comprise this season's Midwest Division. The Red Storm earned the most first place votes of any BIG EAST team and led all programs with 16 points received.
Teammate Rachele Rastelli joins Alexakou as two of five players in the league to be unanimously selected to the All-BIG EAST Preseason Team. Rastelli, one of the conference's most dominate hitters, finished top-five in the BIG EAST for kills and points last season.
In addition to Alexakou and Rastelli, the Johnnies also return senior outside hitter Klara Mikelova, who finished third on the team with 301 kills last year and ranked 12th in the conference with 346 points.
During the 2019 season, Alexakou posted 28 kills and 30.5 points in St. John's 3-1 win against then-No. 14 Oregon, the highest totals of any conference player in a four-set match last season. The outside hitter recorded 20 kills on four occasions in 2019 and racked up 274 digs. Alexakou was unanimously selected to the 2019 All-BIG EAST Team and was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the conference tournament, collecting 29 kills across the Red Storm's two victories against top-seeded Creighton and second-seeded Marquette. She was selected to the 2019 AVCA All-East Coast Region Team and earned All-America honorable mention by Volleyballmag.com.
Rastelli also received unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST Team in 2019 and secured a spot alongside Alexakou on the All-BIG EAST Tournament Team. The right side hitter was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 12, 2019, posting 27 kills across the Red Storm's two three-set sweeps against Xavier and Butler.
St. John's will kick off the 2020-21 season on Feb. 1, when the Johnnies travel to the Bronx to take on local foe Fordham at 6 p.m.
Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Honors
Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Player of the Year
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John's, Jr., OH
Preseason All-BIG EAST *
(listed alphabetically by institution, then last name)
Melody Davidson, Butler, R-Jr., MB
Keeley Davis, Creighton, So., OH
Erica Kostelac, Creighton, Sr., OH
Jaela Zimmerman, Creighton, Jr., OH ^
Donna Brown, DePaul. Jr., MH ^
Hannah Vanden Berg, Marquette, So., OH
Hope Werch, Marquette, Sr., OH ^
Taylor Wolf, Marquette, SR., RS/Setter
Jennifer Leitman, Providence, So., OH
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John's, Jr., OH ^
Rachele Rastelli, St. John's, Jr. RS ^
Sophia Howling, Villanova, RS-Jr., MH
Lauren Hanlon, Xavier, RS-So., RS
Preseason Coaches' Polls
First-place votes in ()
^ denotes unanimous selection
* There are 13 members of the Spring 2021 Preseason All-BIG EAST Volleyball squad due to a tie in voting.
Coming off a sophomore campaign where she ranked second in the conference with 4.73 points per set and 4.23 kills per set, Efrosini Alexakou has received BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year recognition, becoming the first Johnnie to earn the honor since Wioleta Leszczynska in 2008.
The league's coaches picked St. John's to finish first in the East Division after the Johnnies captured the BIG EAST Championship and secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The East Division will also include Villanova, Seton Hall, Connecticut and Providence, while Creighton, Marquette, DePaul, Xavier and Butler will comprise this season's Midwest Division. The Red Storm earned the most first place votes of any BIG EAST team and led all programs with 16 points received.
Teammate Rachele Rastelli joins Alexakou as two of five players in the league to be unanimously selected to the All-BIG EAST Preseason Team. Rastelli, one of the conference's most dominate hitters, finished top-five in the BIG EAST for kills and points last season.
In addition to Alexakou and Rastelli, the Johnnies also return senior outside hitter Klara Mikelova, who finished third on the team with 301 kills last year and ranked 12th in the conference with 346 points.
During the 2019 season, Alexakou posted 28 kills and 30.5 points in St. John's 3-1 win against then-No. 14 Oregon, the highest totals of any conference player in a four-set match last season. The outside hitter recorded 20 kills on four occasions in 2019 and racked up 274 digs. Alexakou was unanimously selected to the 2019 All-BIG EAST Team and was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the conference tournament, collecting 29 kills across the Red Storm's two victories against top-seeded Creighton and second-seeded Marquette. She was selected to the 2019 AVCA All-East Coast Region Team and earned All-America honorable mention by Volleyballmag.com.
Rastelli also received unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST Team in 2019 and secured a spot alongside Alexakou on the All-BIG EAST Tournament Team. The right side hitter was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 12, 2019, posting 27 kills across the Red Storm's two three-set sweeps against Xavier and Butler.
St. John's will kick off the 2020-21 season on Feb. 1, when the Johnnies travel to the Bronx to take on local foe Fordham at 6 p.m.
Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Honors
Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Player of the Year
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John's, Jr., OH
Preseason All-BIG EAST *
(listed alphabetically by institution, then last name)
Melody Davidson, Butler, R-Jr., MB
Keeley Davis, Creighton, So., OH
Erica Kostelac, Creighton, Sr., OH
Jaela Zimmerman, Creighton, Jr., OH ^
Donna Brown, DePaul. Jr., MH ^
Hannah Vanden Berg, Marquette, So., OH
Hope Werch, Marquette, Sr., OH ^
Taylor Wolf, Marquette, SR., RS/Setter
Jennifer Leitman, Providence, So., OH
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John's, Jr., OH ^
Rachele Rastelli, St. John's, Jr. RS ^
Sophia Howling, Villanova, RS-Jr., MH
Lauren Hanlon, Xavier, RS-So., RS
Preseason Coaches' Polls
First-place votes in ()
| East Division | Midwest Division | ||
| 1. St. John's (4) | 16 pts. | 1. Creighton (3) | 15 pts. |
| 2. Villanova (1) | 13 | 2. Marquette (2) | 14 |
| 3. Connecticut | 8 | 3. DePaul | 8 |
| 4. Seton Hall | 7 | 4. Xavier | 7 |
| 5. Providence | 6 | 5. Butler | 6 |
^ denotes unanimous selection
* There are 13 members of the Spring 2021 Preseason All-BIG EAST Volleyball squad due to a tie in voting.
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
RS
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