St. John’s Sinks DePaul in Straight Sets

Friday, October 13

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

14-5,6-1Big East

DePaul

10-8,3-4Big East

DePaul

St. John's (NY)

10/13/2023 10:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The Johnnies have earned sweeps in five of their six BIG EAST victories

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's volleyball team continued its excellent start to BIG EAST competition by sweeping DePaul in straight sets on Friday night inside Carnesecca Arena.

The Johnnies (14-5, 6-1 BIG EAST) handled DePaul in straight sets despite being contested at a series of match points in the third frame. The scores of the sweep were 25-22, 25-19 and 29-27. St. John's has now swept five of its seven BIG EAST opponents.

Lucrezia Lodi, Giorgia Walther and Erin Jones all registered double-digit kills for the Red Storm. Lodi paced the team in slams, generating 14 on a 36 percent clip. Jones continued to do it all for the Johnnies, putting up 11 kills, nine assists and nine digs. Walther tacked on 11 to go along with four digs, two block assists and an ace. Additionally, Walther also joined elite company as she surpassed the 1000 career kill mark during the match.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk posted a team-high 28 helpers for St. John's while contributing five kills and four digs. Kowalczyk's five kills tied her career high from St. John's match against CSU Bakersfield earlier this season.

In her first start at libero since St. John's played Arizona State, Bree Martin recorded a match-high 19 digs which was good for 6.33 per set. Magda Stambrowska produced a team-high five total blocks in addition to six kills.

Audrey Klemp paced DePaul (10-8, 3-4 BIG EAST) in kills with 10. Maggie Jones put up 26 assists while Rachel Krasowski notched 12 digs for the Blue Demons.

Walther paced the Johnnies in kills in the first set, racking up six while hitting 41.7 percent. Stambrowska put up four total blocks in the frame. DePaul kicked the match off by earning an early 3-1 lead, but St. John's rallied to an 8-4 advantage on a run that featured five kills from Jones, Stambrowska, Lodi and Kowalczyk. Both programs traded points midway through the set until the Red Storm exploded on an 8-2 run to hold a 22-12 lead. The Blue Demons were determined to stay in the frame, using a 7-1 run to cut their deficit back to four, 23-19. On set point, DePaul scored three straight points but despite the pressure and only a two-point lead, St. John's closed out the first game on a Lodi kill, taking it 25-22.

Jones led St. John's in the second set, putting up five kills at a 50 percent clip and four digs. The Blue Demons started the frame on a 6-2 run with four of their points coming off serves from Krasowski. The Johnnies then used a 7-1 run to take a two-point lead, 9-7. The two squads threw blows at each other, but the Red Storm never relinquished its lead, using a late 6-3 stretch and a final tip over the net by Kowalczyk to take the second game, 25-19.

The Johnnies used 20 kills on a 26.7 hitting percentage to take a heavily contested third frame. The Blue Demons yet again started the third set by growing a 10-6 early advantage over St. John's. The Red Storm generated a 5-1 run, benefitting from four DePaul attack errors, a Lodi kill and a Kowalczyk ace to tie the frame, 11-11. Neither team was able to generate any momentum in the middle of the set as they went back and forth scoring points to the Blue Demon's first match point at 24-23. St. John's and DePaul answered each match point, leading to five total, until the Johnnies used a Blue Demon attack error and a Lodi kill to secure the set, 29-27 and their fifth BIG EAST sweep.

St. John's will stay in Queens tomorrow night to face off against RV Marquette inside Carnesecca Arena. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.