St. John’s Sweeps Howard in Opening Round of 2023 NIVC Tournament

Friday, December 1

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

7 p.m.

St. John's University

24-10,13-5Big East

Howard

17-15,11-3MEAC

Howard

St. John's (NY)

Ludovica Zola picked up two kills and three blocks against the Bison.

Photo by: BWillschCreative

St. John’s Sweeps Howard in Opening Round of 2023 NIVC Tournament

12/1/2023 10:54:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

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Lucrezia Lodi logged her sixth double-double of the 2023 campaign

QUEENS, N.Y. – Lucrezia Lodi logged her sixth double-double of the 2023 campaign en route to the St. John's volleyball's straight-set sweep over Howard in the opening round of the NIVC Tournament inside Carnesecca Arena. The scores of the sets were 28-26, 25-21 and 25-14.

Lodi collected 17 digs with 10 kills and two block assists against Howard. The Italy native also added four aces in the sweep.

Erin Jones paced the Red Storm in kills with 16 at a 34.5 percent success rate. The sophomore also added seven digs, three assists and a block assist in the program's victory over the Bison.

Magda Stambrowska slammed nine kills at a 42.1 hitting percentage with a team-high three blocks.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk registered a match-high 26 assists to go along with eight digs and two aces.

Rashanny Solano Smith collected 12 digs, averaging four per set. The freshman also provided seven assists to the Johnnies winning effort.

Howard's Rya McKinnon led her squad with 11 kills and two aces. Libero Claire Simpson tacked on 16 digs while Sydnei Jones provided a team-high 17 helpers.

Stambrowska paced St. John's (24-10, 13-5 BIG EAST) with four kills at a 57.1 percent clip in the opening frame. Howard jumped out to a 12-6 lead off seven Red Storm errors, to kick off set one. The Johnnies then went on a 4-0 run sparked by three straight points off Kowalczyk's serves, cutting their deficit down to two, 12-10. The Bison grew its lead back to six, 17-11, from a 6-1 stretch before the Johnnies used a 7-1 run of their own to knot the stanza at 18. The squads battled until Howard earned its first set-point, 24-22, but St. John's rattled off back-to-back points to tie the frame at 24. After contesting two more Bison set points, the Red Storm took the first game, 28-26, off two consecutive Bison attack errors.

Jones threw down eight kills in the second set while Lodi collected eight digs for St. John's. The two teams threw blows at each other to a 6-6 early tie. The Red Storm registered eight straight points, benefiting from five combined kills from Jones, Stambrowska and Eleonora Tosi to take a commanding 14-6 lead over the Bison. Down nine, 18-9, Howard engineered a 6-1 run to cut its deficit down to four, 19-15. Trading points late, the Bison were able to contest a St. John's set point with three straight scores, before a Jones kill capped off a second-set 25-21 victory, in the Red Storm's favor.

Jones yet again paced St. John's in kills with five, while Lodi posted another seven digs. Down by one, 5-4, the Johnnies logged five straight points from two Jones kills, two Lodi aces and a Bison error to take a 9-5 advantage and force a Howard timeout. The two programs went back and forth through the middle of the set until the Red Storm put down eight consecutive scores to lead by 11, 24-13. A Walther kill ended the third and final set for St. John's, 25-14, claiming a sweep in the first round of the postseason tournament.

The Johnnies will return to Carnesecca Arena to face off against South Florida in the Super 16 Round of the NIVC Tournament. The match will be streamed on FloSports with first serve scheduled for 5 p.m.