St. John’s Sweeps Day One of the Jack Kaiser Classic

Friday, September 8

Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)

12:30 p.m.

St. John's University

5-2,0-0Big East

Siena

0-7,0-0MAAC

Siena

St. John's (NY)

St. John’s Sweeps Day One of the Jack Kaiser Classic

9/8/2023 10:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Siena Box Score (PDF)Stony Brook Box Score (PDF)

Red Storm off to best start since 2018

QUEENS, N.Y. (Sept. 8, 2023) – The St. John's volleyball team opened up their home 2023 slate by taking down Siena in four sets, 3-1, and Stony Brook in straight sets, 3-0, at the Jack Kaiser Classic on Friday.

With the two wins, the Johnnies are off to a 6-2 start, the program's best since they started 7-1 in 2018.

Game 1 - St. John's 3, Siena 1

After dropping the third set to the Saints, St. John's won the match in the fourth. The scores of the sets were 25-17, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-12.

With the win, Head Coach Joanne Persico earned her career 550th win which ranks 17th among active NCAA Division I head coaches.

Erin Jones led the Johnnies with 20 kills, hitting at a 29.3 percent clip. Jones also added seven digs and two blocks. Ludovica Zola had a career day against Siena, tallying a career-best nine kills paired with three blocks and two aces.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk picked right up where she left off last weekend, distributing 38 helpers in the win, to go along with five aces and eight digs.

Olga Sawinska had a team-high eight kills paired with one dig for the Saints. Emily Wood paced Siena defensively with 12 digs.

Jones continued her season-opening dominance firing off eight kills in the Red Storm's first set victory. Zola added five kills, two digs and a block. St. John's ran out to a quick 7-2 lead to kick off the first frame of the match. Siena cut their deficit down to two, 9-7, capitalizing on three Sara Wagner points. The Johnnies grew their lead to six, 19-12, on the back of five straight Jones kills. The Red Storm cruised to a 25-17 victory, capped off by the Saint's third service error of the match.

Just like the first set, the Red Storm took an early 5-1 lead over the Saints, in a run that featured three straight Kowalczyk service aces. The Saints stormed right back, putting together a 9-4 stretch of their own, off a mix of blocks and kills to take a 10-9 lead midway through the second frame. The Johnnies tied the match back up at 10-all off a Kowalczyk kill and retook an 11-10 lead from a Jones slam. After trading points for much of the middle of the frame, St. John's was able to pull away late in the set, engineering a 9-3 run to close out and take it 25-18.

Siena kicked off the third frame by growing its largest lead of the match, 7-1, off a combination of errors and blocks. A Kowalczyk kill sparked an 8-2 rally, tying the set at nine a piece. After falling back down by four, Zola served up four straight points to retie the game and take a 16-15 lead. Tied at 18, the Saints put together four straight points to take a 22-18 lead. Siena did not look back and rolled to a 25-22 set three victory.

St. John's played their best defense of the match in the fourth game, limiting Siena as a team to -22.2 percent from the floor. The Johnnies used Jones and Zola kills as well as a pair of block assists to roll to a 12-3 early lead in the fourth set. St. John's never relinquished their lead, growing it to as much as 13. The Red Storm took set four and the match in dominating fashion, 25-12.

Match 2 – St. John's 3, Stony Brook 0

St. John's earned their first sweep of the season against Stony Brook. The scores of the sets were 25-18, 25-23 and 25-13.

Jones paced the Johnnies in kills for the second straight match, notching 16 to go along with four digs. Giorgia Walther added 11 kills, paired with three aces and a team-high eight digs.

Kowalczyk recorded her sixth straight match with 30 or more helpers, totaling 39 in the sweep.

Kali Moore led the Seawolves with eight kills while Abby Stanwood followed closely behind with seven. Julia Patsos paced Stony Brook in digs with a match-high 14. Torri Henry contributed 29 assists.

Walther hammered home a commanding seven kills in the first set at an impressive 50 percent clip. Both squads exchanged blows to open the match leading to a 7-7 tie to start the opening game. Four Walther kills sparked a Red Storm 10-3 run, to go up 17-10 on the Seawolves. The Johnnies never looked back taking a commanding 25-18 victory in set one.

Jones put together an impressive second game, tallying five kills and a dig. Stambrowska added four kills to the Johnnies' total of 15. St. John's raced out to an early 5-1 lead powered by two Walther aces and a Stambrowska slam at the beginning of the second set. Down by five, 10-5, Stony Brook put together an impressive 13-7 stretch to take a one-point, 18-17 lead. Both squads exchanged points to a 21-21 tie, but the Red Storm put a final 4-2 run together to shut the door on the Seawolves and take the second frame, 25-23.

The Johnnies jumped out to a 13-2 opening lead fueled by four Jones kills to start the third frame. The Seawolves sponsored a 4-1 run midway through the set, cutting their lead down to eight, but the initial deficit proved to be too much, as the Red Storm cruised to a 25-13 match victory in the third frame.

St. John's will close out the Jack Kaiser Classic tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. when they face off against Loyola Maryland.