St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
Connecticut
St. John’s to Kick Off Conference Play against Connecticut and Seton Hall
9/24/2021 9:15:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Red Storm travels to nearby Storrs and South Orange.
QUEENS, N.Y. (Sept. 24, 2021) – Coming off a successful non-conference schedule that saw the Red Storm go 9-2 against unranked opponents, St. John's will travel to nearby Storrs and South Orange this weekend to begin conference play.
The Johnnies will go up against Connecticut this Saturday at 5 p.m. before taking on Seton Hall the following day at 2 p.m. Both matches can be found on the BIG EAST Digital Network presented by JEEP on FloSports. Live Stats will also be available and can be found on UConnHuskies.com and SHUPirates.com, respectively.
This past weekend, the St. John's volleyball team took on a loaded field at the WKU Invitational and finished in second place. On Friday, the Red Storm swept Austin Peay in three sets before defeating Spring 2021 ASUN Champion Lipscomb in four sets. On Saturday, No. 23 Western Kentucky, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 last season, defeated the Johnnies in three sets.
Eleonora Tosi and Sheena Yoshioka were named to the All-Tournament team in Bowling Green. The honor marks Tosi's second tournament accolade this season.
Rachele Rastelli and Tiziana Baumrukova currently rank as two of the top statistical players in the nation. Rastelli leads the country in total points with 208.5 and is ranked fourth in total kills with 182. She is also no. 22 in total attacks with 398, no. 28 in kills per set with 4.44 and no. 30 in points per set with 4.92. Baumrukova currently ranks second nationally with 414 total assists and 11th with 11.19 assists per set.
Ariadni Kathariou is also on the national leaderboards, tied for 25th with 44 total blocks. This statistic also lands her fourth in the BIG EAST.
The Huskies were picked to finish tied for sixth in the BIG EAST Coaches' Preseason Poll after going 4-7 last spring. This season, Connecticut is 8-4.
Connecticut went 3-0 this weekend at its home tournament. The Huskies won two three-set matches against Bryant and NJIT before taking a four-set victory against Yale. The Huskies return Preseason All-BIG EAST pick Caylee Parker. Parker currently leads Connecticut with 131 kills over 41 sets, good enough for eighth in the BIG EAST in that category.
Connecticut leads the all-time series with St. John's 15-11.
Seton Hall was selected to finish 10th in the preseason poll after finishing last spring with a 4-7 overall record. Seton Hall will play Connecticut on Friday before facing St. John's on Sunday. The Pirates currently have a 7-6 overall record.
Last weekend, the Pirates lost three matches against Florida International, Middle Tennessee, and North Florida during the UNF Invitational. Seton Hall returns Ilieva Tsvetelina who earned all-league honors before the start of the season. The Pirates are currently led by Perri Lucas with 157 points and 2.92 kills per set.
St. John's narrowly leads the all-time series against the Pirates, 18-17.
