St. John's University Athletics
St. John's University
16-9,7-5Big East
Creighton
20-3,12-0Big East
St. John’s Falls to Creighton in Three Sets
10/30/2022 4:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Rastelli moves into second all-time in program history with 1,776 kills
QUEENS, N.Y. (Oct. 30, 2022) – The St. John's volleyball team challenged Creighton forcing extra points in the first two sets, before ultimately losing in three sets on Sunday afternoon in Carnesecca Arena.
With the win, the Bluejays (20-3, 12-0 BIG EAST) sit atop the BIG EAST standings. The Red Storm (16-9, 7-4 BIG EAST) are now tied for fourth place in the conference.
Rachele Rastelli recorded team-bests with 17 kills and five blocks. In the second set of the match, she passed Jackie Ahler's mark of 1,766 for second most kills in St. John's history. The Parma, Italy native now has 1,776 career kills, and needs 104 to tie Karin Palgutova with 1,880 kills.
Lucrezia Lodi and Giorgia Walther also recorded double-digit kill totals with 10 apiece, and added eight and seven digs, respectively.
Wiktoria Kowalczyk tallied a match-high 36 assists.
The Bluejays controlled the first set early on leading by as much as four at several times. Rastelli registered two kills as part of a 5-1 burst to tie the set at 17. Creighton strung together several points and had set point, 24-20. The Johnnies scored four consecutive points deadlocking the stanza at 24. The Bluejays were able to convert two straight rallies to take the first frame, 26-24. Creighton's Nora Sis led all individuals with seven kills. Bree Martin recorded seven of her team-leading nine digs in the set.
The Red Storm started hot scoring the first four points of the match. Creighton recovered with a run of its own, tying the set at 7. The two teams went point-for-point in the remainder of the stanza with eight ties and three lead changes. Tied at 22, a kill by Rastelli and a Bluejays attacking error gave the Johnnies a 24-22 lead. Facing set point, Creighton forced a St. John's error and an ace by Keeley Davis to tie the frame at 24 apiece. A kill by Rastelli set up set point once again for the Red Storm. However, three consecutive kills by Creighton gave the Bluejays its second set victory of the contest in extra points. Rastelli hit .333 with 6 kills in the second stanza.
Creighton closed the match with a dominating third set. The Bluejays used a 5-0 run to overcome a 3-2 Red Storm lead. Creighton never trailed for the remainder of the match, winning the final stanza, 25-16. The Bluejays hit .565 in the frame. Rastelli hit .308 with six kills in the frame.
St. John's will have a very short break before returning to action with a 7 p.m. midweek matchup at Seton Hall on Wednesday night. The match will be streamed on BEDN on FloSports. The Red Storm will then return home for a Friday night match against Butler at 7 p.m. to close out the week.
