St. John’s Splits Day One of the Red Storm Invitational

Friday, September 15

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

9 a.m.

St. John's University

8-2,0-0Big East

Bryant

7-6,0-0America East

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Bryant	25	25	28	14	10	2
St. John's (NY)	21	14	30	25	15	3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Arkansas	19	25	25	25	3
St. John's (NY)	25	16	17	21	1

St. John’s Splits Day One of the Red Storm Invitational

9/15/2023 11:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 St. John's vs Bryant Box Score (PDF)St. John's vs Arkansas Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

Red Storm takes down Bryant, 3-2, falls to No. 16 Arkansas, 3-1

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's volleyball team kicked off the Red Storm Invitational with a split, by taking down Bryant in five sets, 3-2, and falling to No. 16 Arkansas in four, 3-1, on Friday.

Game 1 - St. John's 3, Bryant 2

With their backs against the wall, the Johnnies completed a remarkable comeback on Friday morning, mounting a comeback from two sets down for the second time this season. The set scores were 21-25, 15-25, 30-28, 25-14 and 15-10.

Giorgia Walther paced the Johnnies with 28 kills to go along with four digs and an ace. Erin Jones tacked on 10 kills, six assists and four digs. Ludovica Zola tallied a career-high 10 kills.

Rashanny Solano Smith continued her impressive freshman campaign by posting 17 digs and two assists.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk continued to set her way to success, racking up 42 assists and six digs in the win.

Bryant's Arianna Ugolini led the Bulldogs with 19 kills, hitting at a 44.4 percent clip. She also added four aces and eight digs. Carolina Camacho posted 28 helpers and five digs.

Walther and Jones led the Red Storm offense in the first game, combining for nine total kills. Both teams were tied 15-15 midway through the first set. The Bulldogs put together a 4-1 run to take a 19-16 lead. The Johnnies retied the match at 19-all off a pair of Magda Stambrowska and Jones kills to go with a Bree Martin ace. Bryant pulled away late, going on a final 6-2 stretch, taking the first frame 25-21.

In the second set, St. John's was limited to just nine total kills and only hit 13.8 percent. After a 4-4 early tie, the Bulldogs tore the second set open with a 12-4 stretch, putting them up 16-8. Two errors and a Walther kill would cut the Red Storm deficit down to five, but another large 9-3 Bryant run closed the second frame 25-14.

The third game was a back-and-forth affair that featured eight ties and two lead changes. Walther compiled seven of the Red Storm's 18 third frame kills. Bryant jumped out to a 12-6 lead benefitting from four errors and six kills. A 7-3 stretch for the Johnnies on the back of five combined slams from Walther, Jones and Eleonora Tosi allowed St. John's to creep back into the set, only down by three. Both programs traded blows until the Red Storm scored three straight points to trail 22-21. On Bryant's first match point, a Jones kill and a Bulldog attack error tied the set at 24-all. The Bulldogs would rally to four more match points, leading 28-27, but the Johnnies recorded a Tosi kill and two Martin aces to pull away and steal the set 30-28.

The Johnnies came out swinging in the fourth frame, compiling 14 total kills and limiting Bryant to nine kills on 13.9 percent hitting. Both programs battled to a 7-7 tie early in the fourth game before the Johnnies got in their groove, going on an 11-4 run en route to an 18-11 lead. Kills from Walther, Zola, Tosi and Stambrowska combined with Bryant errors allowed the Johnnies to run away with the fourth set, 25-14, tying the match at 2-2.

St. John's jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the extra frame, benefitting from three Walther kills and two aces. Down by six, 11-5, the Bulldogs made things interesting engineering a 4-1 run off three Johnnie errors to cut their lead down to 12-9. Three Bulldog errors allowed the Red Storm to take the set 15-10 and complete its second reverse sweep of the season.

Match 2 – St. John's 1, No. 16 Arkansas 3

After taking the first set, St. John's dropped the last three, giving the Razorbacks the match in four sets. The scores of the sets were 25-19, 16-25, 17-25, 21-25.

Jones registered her fourth double-double of the season, posting a team-high 17 kills to go along with 14 digs. Jones' 14 digs ties her career high from earlier this season against Arizona State. Tosi posted a season-high 12 kills paired with five blocks.

Kowalczyk added 39 helpers, marking her eighth match with 30 or more assists. She also contributed three aces and nine digs.

Solano Smith backed up her phenomenal performance earlier in the day against Bryant, by posting a team-high 21 digs, two aces and an assist. The freshman now leads St. John's with 145 digs on the season.

Arkansas' Taylor Head and Maggie Cartwright contributed a team-high 12 slams. Head also posted 13 digs. Hannah Houge put up 38 assists for the Razorbacks.

Jones, Tosi and Walther led St. John's in the first game combined for 11 of the Red Storm's 12 kills. Both squads battled to open the match with a 7-7 tie before the Johnnies scored four straight points off of Solano serves to take an 11-7 lead. The Johnnies continued to rack up points, going on an 8-5 run, featuring a combination of kills from Zola, Walther and Jones to take a 19-12 lead. St. John's didn't look back, taking a crazy rally and a Tosi kill to a 25-19 first-set victory.

Leading by one, 7-6, the Johnnies used a Stambrowska kill and a Solano ace to take a 9-6 lead over the Razorbacks early in the second frame. Arkansas answered immediately, pouring on 11 straight points off of Jillian Gillen serves to take an 18-10 lead. The Razorbacks continued to roll taking the second frame 25-16 to even out the match.

The Johnnies blocked exceptionally well in the set three, racking up five total blocks, four of which came from Stambrowska. The Red Storm opened the third game with a 7-1 lead, with the opening five points coming off of Zola serves. The Razorbacks came right back, putting together a 10-4 stretch that tied the frame at 11-all. Arkansas grew its lead to as much as six midways through the set, taking a 22-16 lead. The Razorbacks used a late Head kill and back-to-back St. John errors to take the set, 25-17.

In a barnburner of a set, Jones and Tosi racked up five kills apiece in the fourth game. Neither squad could cement a lead throughout the fourth frame, leading to a late 20-20 tie. The Razorbacks tallied four straight points leading to match point, 24-21. A Johnnie attack error ended the set, 25-21, in Arkansas's favor.

St. John's will face Buffalo at 5 p.m. tomorrow evening to close out the Red Storm Invitational and its non-conference slate.