St. John’s Defeats Fordham and Boston College in Day One of the Jack Kaiser Classic

Friday, September 10

Queens, N.Y. (Taffner Fieldhouse

2 p.m.

St. John's University

4-4,0-0Big East

Fordham

2-5,0-0Atlantic 10

Fordham

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Defeats Fordham and Boston College in Day One of the Jack Kaiser Classic

9/10/2021 11:23:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Box Score - Fordham (PDF)Box Score - Boston (PDF)Highlights vs Fordham Highlights vs Boston College Photo Gallery

The Red Storm recorded wins against Fordham and Boston College in five sets each

By: Jamie Goerke

QUEENS, N.Y. (Sept. 10, 2021) – The St. John's volleyball team persisted through two five-set matches to sweep day one of the Jack Kaiser Classic.

The Red Storm was in a 2-0 deficit against Fordham after dropping the first two sets, 25-18, and 25-16, respectively. The Johnnies came back fighting to take the third set, 25-21, before capturing the fourth and fifth sets, 25-16 and 15-9, respectively.

Against previously undefeated Boston College, the Red Storm captured the first two sets, 25-21, and 25-19. The Eagles went on to take the next two sets, both 25-20, before the Johnnies closed the fifth set, 15-13.

GAME 1

After dropping the first two sets, the Red Storm (5-4) came back to take the match against Fordham (2-6) in their first five-set game of the season. The last time the Johnnies came back from a 2-0 deficit was on Sept. 21, 2018, against Xavier.

Rachele Rastelli led the match with 20 kills. She also contributed five blocks and nine digs.

Giorgia Walther followed Rastelli closely with 19 kills and two blocks. Efrosini Alexakou recorded 12 kills and 12 digs, making this her third straight game with a double-double. Ariadni Kathariou added in 10 kills and the lone Red Storm solo block. Eleonora Tosi contributed six kills and six blocks.

Trailing 6-4 in the first set, the Rams took off on a 13-6 run to open the score to 19-9. The Red Storm crawled back and were able to add in eight more points before Fordham got to match point on an error. The eight points included three kills by Rastelli and two kills by Walther. St. John's held off Fordham with a kill by Tosi before dropping the first set, 25-18.

Fordham and St. John's were trading points majority of the second set until the Johnnies were trailing 16-13. Fordham then added in five straight points to advance its lead to 21-13. Walther, Tosi, and Alexakou were able to record three kills, but the Red Storm could not close the deficit and fell to Fordham, 25-16.

The Red Storm came out firing in the third set recording five straight points. Kathariou contributed two kills to the run. The Rams tried to catch up and got within three, 17-14, before the Johnnies added in three points to widen the lead to 20-14. When the Red Storm was ahead, 21-15, Fordham added in four straight points to climb to 19, before the Johnnies closed the set, 25-21.

After the Rams recorded the first point of the set, the Johnnies went on a 6-1 spurt to open the set to 6-2. The teams continued to trade points until Fordham got within one when the score was 16-15. St. John's responded with a 9-1 run to take the fourth set, 25-16. In the final run, Rastelli took four of the kills while Walther captured two.

The fifth set tied five times before the Johnnies added in three straight points when the match was tied at 7. The Rams were able to get within two at 11-9 before the Johnnies closed the game with four straight points to end the set 15-9, and the match, 5-2.

Game 2

The Red Storm captured two straight sets against Boston College (8-1) before the Eagles won sets three and four. The Johnnies took the victory in the fifth set.

Rastelli recorded a career-high 31 kills to go along with 14 digs and one block. The double-double is also the first time a St. John's volleyball player has recorded 30+ points since Julia Cast recorded 30 against Stony Brook on Sept. 19, 2017.

Of Rastelli's kills, thirteen of them came in sets three and four, where she recorded hitting percentages of .500 and .333, respectively.

Walther added in 12 kills and two blocks while Tosi contributed 10 kills and two blocks. Tiziana Baumrukova recorded a career-high 58 assists.

The Red Storm was down 9-8 in the first set before adding in five straight points to take a 13-9 lead. The Johnnies held on to the lead the rest of the set before closing it out, 25-21.

Boston College was able to get within two in the second set at 7-5 but the Johnnies tallied three straight kills to get ahead at 10-5. The Eagles were able to get within one, 19-18 before the Red Storm pounded in a 6-1 spurt to close the set, 25-19. Rastelli owned three kills during the final points.

The Johnnies were up 6-4 in the third set before Boston College took on a 9-1 run to take the lead 13-7. When the Johnnies were down by seven, 18-11, Rastelli tallied three straight kills to start a 7-2 spurt to close the lead 19-16. St. John's was able to get within two at 22-20 before Boston College closed the set with three straight points, 25-20.

When the fourth set was tied at eleven, the Eagles added in three straight points to start their 14-9 run to close the set, 25-20. Of the Johnnies' nine points, three of them were kills by Klara Mikelova.

Both teams traded points in the fifth set up until a tie at 12. Boston College got one more point in on an error before the Johnnies recorded three straight points to take the set, 15-13, and the match, 5-2.

St. John's will close out the Jack Kaiser Classic Saturday at 1 p.m. vs. Army.