St. John's University Athletics
Persico Named AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year; Erin Jones Tabbed to East Coast All-Region Team
12/5/2023 10:57:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Red Storm receives AVCA All-Region recognition for the six straight season
LEXINGTON, Ky. – St. John's women's volleyball Head Coach Joanne Persico was named AVCA East Coast Region Coach of the Year with Erin Jones being selected to the East Coast All-Region Team, as announced by the coach's association on Tuesday morning.
Persico is awarded her second AVCA Coach of the Year award in her 30th season coaching the Red Storm. The team's leader previously won the accolade at the conclusion of the 2006 season when the program won its first BIG EAST regular season title and made its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
Persico and her coaching staff were previously awarded BIG EAST Co-Coaching Staff of the Year two weeks ago for the third time in her career.
St. John's made its third appearance in program history in the BIG EAST title match after taking down Villanova, 3-0 and Marquette, 3-2, in the conference tournament. The squad's BIG EAST Tournament appearance was the 12th in program history and the fifth in the last six seasons.
As the sole head coach in program history, Persico has earned 569 career wins and has claimed three BIG EAST Regular Season Championships and two BIG EAST Tournament Championships.
Persico, the winningest head coach all-time in the BIG EAST, guided the Red Storm to a 24-11 overall record in the 2023 campaign to go along with a 13-5 mark in conference play. The Johnnies reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive season and the 13th time in program history.
Additionally, the Red Storm's 24 wins this season marked the highest win total since 2007 when the program went 33-4 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16.
Jones earns the first East Coast All-Region accolade of her career after being named to the All-BIG EAST Team as a unanimous selection. Throughout the sophomore's breakout campaign, she led the Red Storm in points (508), points per set (3.97 P/S), kills (446) and kills per set (3.48).
Jones' All-Region selection marked the sixth straight season that a Johnnie has been tabbed to the AVCA All-Region Team. The sophomore is the 10th student-athlete to be named to the All-Region team for St. John's.
Appearing in 35 regular season matches and in all 128 sets of the 2023 campaign, the Albuquerque, N.M., native racked up 13 double-doubles.
She became the first player in program history to record a triple-double when the Johnnies took down RV Marquette, 3-2, back on Oct. 14. The talented sophomore logged 22 kills, 17 digs and 14 assists with four total blocks.
Across league play, the right-side setter finished third in the BIG EAST in total kills and fourth in kills per set and points.
Jones was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 16 after taking down RV Marquette. She was also tabbed to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll three times on Sept 11., Nov. 6 and Nov. 20.
