St. John’s Falls to Buffalo in Four Sets to Close Out the Red Storm Invitational

Saturday, September 16

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

5 p.m.

St. John's University

8-4,0-0Big East

Buffalo

10-2,0-0MAC

Buffalo

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Falls to Buffalo in Four Sets to Close Out the Red Storm Invitational

9/16/2023 8:13:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score St. John's vs Buffalo Box Score (PDF)

Eleonora Tosi was named to the Red Storm Invitational All-Tournament Team

QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John's volleyball team finished off the Red Storm Invitational falling to Buffalo in four sets, 3-1 on Saturday evening.

The Red Storm took the first set but dropped the next three. The scores of the sets were 25-21, 21-25, 21-25 and 17-15.

Eleonora Tosi was named to the Red Storm Invitational after posting 29 kills and eight blocks across the weekend. Tosi added nine kills, four digs and a block against the Bulls.

Erin Jones recorded a team-high 15 kills to go along with six digs, two assists and an ace. Giorgia Walther tacked on nine kills, four digs, two blocks and an ace against Buffalo.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk continued her fantastic junior campaign, adding 39 assists, six digs, four kills, two aces and two blocks.

Rashanny Solano Smith had 15 digs and added three helpers to go along with two aces. Solano leads the Johnnies with 160 digs at 3.40 per set.

Buffalo's Katrin Trebichavska and Emma Gielas registered a team-high 11 kills. Mandy Leigh supported her squad with 38 helpers.

Jones, Walther and Magda Stambrowska led St. John's offense in the first frame, combining for 10 kills. Solano Smith tacked on five digs in the opening game. Both squads traded blows to start the match, racing out to an 11-11 tie. The Johnnies created some breathing room for themselves by putting together a 6-3 run, which featured aces from Jones and Kowalczyk, to take a three-point lead, 17-14. The Bulls put together a 4-1 run of their own to retie the game at 18-all. The Red Storm used a late 6-3 stretch to close out and take the first frame, 25-21.

Much like set one, both squads went back and forth scoring points, leading to a 10-10 tie to kick off frame two. The Bulls put together a large 10-4 run, taking a 17-14 lead over St. John's off a handful of Red Storm errors and Buffalo kills. The Johnnies challenged the Bulls on match point, scoring three straight points to make the score 24-21. The Bulls retired the frame on a Courtney Okwara kill, taking the second set, 25-21, and evening out the match at one game apiece.

Buffalo took an early 6-3 lead over the Red Storm in set three. St. John's used a critical 5-2 run, benefiting from four Bull errors to retie the match at 8-all. The Johnnies and Bulls exchanged points to a one-point Buffalo lead, 16-15. The Bulls tacked on six points off three kills, two blocks and an ace, growing their lead to 22-16. St. John's engineered a late 5-3 run, but it wasn't enough to steal the set, dropping the frame 25-21 to the Bulls.

Tied up at 7-7, the Bulls used four straight points off Red Storm errors and an ace to take an early 11-7 lead in the fourth game. The Johnnies quickly put together a 4-0 run, retying the frame at 11-all. Responding right back, Buffalo tacked on another six unanswered points which grew the score to 17-11. The Johnnies cut their deficit to seven points off a late push, but the Bulls were able to close the set and the match, 25-17.

St. John's will return to the court next Friday, Sept. 22 when they open BIG EAST play against UConn at 7 p.m. in Carnesecca Arena.