No. 3 St. John’s Stuns No. 2 Marquette, 3-2; Advances to BIG EAST Championship Match

Friday, November 24

Milwaukee, Wis. (Al McGuire Center)

1:30 p.m.

St. John's University

23-9,13-5Big East

No. 2 Marquette

20-10,16-2Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
St. John's (NY)	11	25	20	25	15	3
Marquette	25	14	25	22	13	2

No. 3 St. John’s Stuns No. 2 Marquette, 3-2; Advances to BIG EAST Championship Match

11/24/2023 5:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Lucrezia Lodi registered 20 kills with three digs and three aces.

MILWAUKEE – A 20-kill performance from Lucrezia Lodi led the third-seeded St. John's volleyball team to a five-set stunner over second-seeded Marquette, 3-2, in the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship Semifinals inside the Al McGuire Center.

The two teams traded sets, until the Red Storm (23-9, 13-5 BIG EAST) claimed a decisive fifth set. The scores of the sets were 11-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-22 and 15-13.

"Incredible stamina, teamwork, grit and a will to win by a strong and team-oriented group of young sportswomen," said Head Coach Joanne Persico. "It is an honor to be a part of this team."

With the win, the Johnnies advanced to the championship match of the BIG EAST Tournament for the first time since 2019 when they took down Marquette, 3-1.

The Johnnies have now beaten Marquette twice in one season for the first time in program history. Furthermore, the Johnnies have earned 23 wins in a season for the first time since 2018, when the program went 23-12.

As a team, the Johnnies racked up 12 service aces and 54 kills in the match.

Lodi lit up the stat sheet, pacing the Johnnies with 20 kills at a 30.2 percent clip with three digs and three aces. Giorgia Walther added 15 slams with a dig and three total blocks.

Erin Jones logged her 13^th double-double of the season against the Golden Eagles. The sophomore totaled 20 assists, 10 digs and nine kills to go along with two aces.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk also registered 20 helpers and two aces paired with nine digs.

Rashanny Solano Smith contributed 17 digs, seven assists and an ace against the Golden Eagles.

Marquette's Aubrey Hamilton led her team with 19 kills at a 31.2 percent clip. Yadhira Anchante tallied 42 assists while Sarah Kushner registered 17 digs. Carsen Murray recorded 10 block assists.

Lodi led the Red Storm with three kills and an ace in the first frame. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 9-2 lead to kick off the first set. The Johnnies then put together a 5-2 run, benefitting from three Lodi kills to cut their deficit down to four, 11-7. Marquette erupted for a 6-3 run, bringing their lead back to seven, 17-10. The Golden Eagles cruised through the rest of the set, ending it with eight straight points for a 25-11 set-one victory.

Lodi paced the Red Storm in kills yet again, slamming down four to go along with two aces in game two. The two programs went back-and-forth to open the second game leading to a 6-6 tie. The Johnnies went on a 5-2 stretch off a collection of errors and kills from Eleonora Tosi and Magda Stambrowska, which gave themselves a three-point cushion, 11-8. Marquette and St. John's continued to exchange blows, until the Johnnies exploded for seven straight points, six of which were off Jones' serves to take the second set, 25-14 and even out the match.

Lodi pounded six kills in the third set for St. John's. Neither team could develop any significant momentum at the start of the stanza, opening the frame with a 9-9 tie. Marquette recorded three straight points, growing its lead to three, 12-9. With the Golden Eagles up by six, 18-12, the two teams threw blows at each other, but the Red Storm couldn't cut into its deficit enough, giving Marquette a third-set victory, 25-20 and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Eight combined kills from Lodi and Walther powered the Johnnies in a critical fourth frame victory. Four kills from Lodi and Walther helped the Red Storm run out to an early 9-4 advantage to kick off set four. Marquette was able to engineer a 7-2 run, which knotted the frame up at 11-all. The Johnnies then used a 7-5 stretch to give themselves a two-point, 18-16 advantage. A 3-2 stretch for Marquette tied the stanza at 19-all, but a Jones kill would give the Johnnies their one-point advantage back, 20-19, forcing a Golden Eagles timeout. Tied at 22, the Red Storm secured three straight points, capped off by a Walther kill to seal a set-four victory, 25-22.

Jones, Lodi and Walther each contributed three kills apiece in the fifth and final stanza. The Golden Eagles earned a 5-1 advantage at the start of the fifth period, causing St. John's to call timeout. The Johnnies registered four straight points off a Lodi kill, two Kowalczyk aces and a Marquette error to tie the frame at 5-all. The squad manufactured a 4-1 run, putting them up by three, 9-6, but Marquette was able to cut its deficit down to two, 12-10, off back-to-back kills. Up by one at match point, 14-13, a Walther kill capped off a tight fifth set, 15-13, sending the Red Storm to its first BIG EAST Championship match since 2019.

The Johnnies advance to the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship where they will take on the winner of first-seeded Creighton and fifth-seeded DePaul. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow afternoon inside the Al McGuire Center. The match will be broadcast on FS2 and live stats will be available on RedStormSport.com.