St. John’s Downs Georgetown in Straight Sets

Friday, October 20

Washington, D.C. (McDonough Arena)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

16-5,8-1Big East

Georgetown

12-9,3-6Big East

St. John's (NY)

Georgetown

10/20/2023 10:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Erin Jones notched her seventh double-double of the season

WASHINGTON D.C – Erin Jones' seventh double-double of the season willed the St. John's volleyball team to a straight-set sweep over Georgetown inside McDonough Arena on Friday night.

The scores of the match were 25-18, 27-25 and 25-18.

"Such a special night for our squad, taking down our Big East rivals in front of our own St. John's men's soccer team on the road," said Head Coach Joanne Persico. "Our defense catapulted us to this big victory. It was a tremendous hard-fought win by our squad."

Jones notched her seventh double-double of the season for the Johnnies (16-5, 8-1 BIG EAST) which consisted of 11 kills hit at an impressive 50 percent clip with 10 assists. The sophomore also added six digs and a block assist.

Lucrezia Lodi tacked on nine kills to go along with eight digs and an assist, while Giorgia Walther contributed eight slams, two digs, two aces and a crucial solo block in the second set.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk posted a team-high 24 helpers paired with one ace, one dig and a block assist.

In her third straight start at libero, Bree Martin paced the match in digs with nine.

Mary Grace Goyena posted a match-high 14 kills for Georgetown (12-9, 3-6 BIG EAST). Emily Wen recorded a match-high 26 assists while Karis Park led her squad with nine digs.

After dropping the first point to the Hoyas, St. John's used a 6-1 run that featured two Walther kills to take a 6-2 lead. Georgetown stormed right back with an 7-1 stretch of its own to take a 9-7 lead in the set. Both squads fought hard midway through the frame to a 15-14 Johnnies advantage, until the Red Storm engineered a 5-1 run that put them up by five, 20-15, forcing a Hoya timeout. Georgetown answered each St. John's point at the end of the set, but it wasn't enough to overcome its deficit, as the Johnnies ended the frame, 25-18.

In a contested second game that featured 18 ties and eight lead changes, Jones paced the Johnnies with five kills, two assists and three digs. Both programs exchanged blows to start the set, leading to an 8-8 tie. Tied up at 14, St. John's scored back-to-back points off a Walther block and a Zola kill, but Georgetown posted a kill and a block of its own to retie things at 16. Battling late to a 23-23 tie, a Jones kill bought the Johnnies their first match point, but Georgetown responded to even things at 24-all. In its third set point, St. John's closed out the game with a Kowalczyk and Stambrowska block assist to take the set, 27-25.

Eleonora Tosi recorded a set-high five kills in the third and final frame. The Hoyas ran out to a 6-2 lead, benefiting from two kills and two blocks to kick off the third set. Down 10-6, The Johnnies stormed back into the set, using a 6-2 run to tie things up at 12-12. The Red Storm and Georgetown battled midway through the set, until the Johnnies erupted for four straight points to earn a 20-16 lead. St. John's ran away with the rest of the set, closing it on a 5-2 run to retire the frame and the match, 25-18.

St. John's will stay on the road tomorrow evening when they face off against Villanova in Villanova, Pa. First serve is scheduled for 5 p.m.