St. John's to Begin Season in Orlando on Friday

Friday, August 27

Orlando, Fla (The Venue at UCF)

4 p.m.

St. John's University

Penn State

Tickets

8/26/2021 3:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes (UCF Challenge)Live Stats (Penn State)Live Stats (UCF)Watch (UCF)Live Stats (Georgia Tech)

Red Storm to take on a loaded field at the UCF Challenge

By: Jamie Goerke

QUEENS, N.Y. (Aug. 26, 2021) – The St. John's volleyball team will kick off its 2021 campaign in Orlando on Friday evening when it takes on a loaded field at the UCF Challenge.

St. John's will start the tournament against No. 12 Penn State at 4 p.m. inside The Venue at UCF. The Red Storm will then take on the host Knights the next day at 11 a.m. The Johnnies will then close things out with their second matchup of the day, facing off against No. 24 Georgia Tech at 5:30 p.m. The Red Storm's matchup with UCF can be streamed on ESPN +, while all three contests will feature live stats through StatBroadcast.

All three of the Red Storm's opponents this weekend reached the final 16 of the Spring 2021 NCAA Tournament. Georgia Tech and Penn State both earned a place in the final AVCA Coaches Poll of the season.

Joanne Persico, the only head coach in program history, enters her 28th season at the helm of the Red Storm volleyball team on the heels of a spectacular effort in the spring of 2021. The Johnnies posted a record of 10-4, including a 6-2 mark in conference action that was good enough for a first place finish in the East Division of the BIG EAST.

Following St. John's shortened spring 2021 season, the program was picked to finish third in the BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll. Reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year Efrosini Alexakou was chosen as this year's Preseason Player of the Year. This is the second consecutive season Alexakou has received this honor. Joining Alexakou, Rachele Rastelli was selected as a preseason pick for the All-BIG EAST team. The senior was an AVCA East Coast All-Region team selection and was chosen for the All-BIG EAST team for the second year in a row last season. In the spring, Alexakou recorded her 1000th kill and led the conference with 4.19 kills per set. Just behind her was Rastelli with 4.16 kills per set and a team-high 212 kills on the season.

The Johnnies also return a trio of significant contributors in graduate student Tiziana Baumrukova, senior Ariadni Kathariou, and junior Iliana Rodriguez. Baumrukova, a setter from Prague, Czech Republic, led the conference with 588 assists while notching 105 digs and 20 kills on the season. She was named to the All-BIG EAST First Team for her achievements. Kathariou, who was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week twice, led the conference with 60 blocks on the season. Rodriguez, a libero from New York City, led the team with 190 digs and 19 aces. She ended the season ranked fourth in the conference for service aces.

Five newcomers are set to join the Red Storm in 2021 as well. One of these first-time Johnnies is sophomore transfer Angela Crosetti, who joins the squad from Southern New Hampshire University. From overseas, Wiktoria Kowalczyk and Giorgia Walther add their skills to the team. Kowalczyk hails from Poland while Walther comes to New York from Italy. A pair of American freshmen round out the Red Storm's newcomers, as Indiana native Bree Martin will join the Johnnies alongside California product Ariana Robinson.

Penn State enters the UCF Challenge coming off a Spring 2021 campaign where Head Coach Russ Rose led the team to an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Penn State is the only team in the nation to complete in all 40 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournaments. The Nittany Lions start the season with five players receiving All-Big Ten honors, including 2021 AVCA Third Team All-American Kaitlyn Hord. The senior capped off last season registering a team-high .421 hitting percentage while also notching 147 kills and 79 blocks over 60 sets. Alongside Hord, Penn State's roster includes AVCA Honorable Mention Jonni Parker and the Big Ten's active leader in kills, Erika Pritchard. Parker returns as a senior for the Nittany Lions after leading the team with 194 kills and 234.5 points over 60 sets. Pritchard comes to State College from the University of Maryland and currently has 1,526 kills.

Friday's matchup will be the fourth meeting between the two programs as St. John's seeks its first win against Penn State.

UCF is the three-time defending champion in the American Athletic Conference and has been chosen first in the league's preseason poll. The Knights are returning the heart of last season's squad, including the reigning AAC Player of the year, McKenna Melville. Along with AAC honors, Melville was also named an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American. The senior outside hitter racked up a team-high 296 kills last season and ranked 12th in the nation with 4.55 kills per set. Along with Melville, UCF returns Marie Watson and Nerissa Moravec, both of whom earned first-team all-conference accolades last season. Watson notched a .228 hitting percentage over 390 attacks while Moravec led the AAC and ranked 27th in the nation with 1.34 blocks per set.

St. John's won the lone previous matchup between the teams in 1999.

Georgia Tech heads into the 2021 season after a 2020-2021 campaign that saw the Yellow Jackets clinch their 10th NCAA Tournament berth in program history and advance to the second round for the first time since 2004. Georgia Tech returns all of its starters from last season, including Mariana Brambilla and Julia Bergmann. Brambilla was named an AVCA All-American after leading the team with 270 kills over 64 sets and ranking second in the ACC with 4.22 kills per set. Bergmann was also named an AVCA All-American after leading the team with 30 aces and ranked second on the team with 269 kills and 186 digs.

This will be the second all-time matchup between St. John's and Georgia Tech following a Johnnies win in 2013.