St. John’s Drops Heartbreaker to UConn, 3-2

Saturday, October 19

Storrs, Conn. (UConn Volleyball Center)

4 p.m.

St. John's University

14-8,3-5Big East

UConn

18-2,6-2Big East

St. John's (NY)

UConn

10/19/2024 7:32:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Erin Jones and Rashanny Solano Smith shined for the Red Storm

STORRS, Conn. – The St. John's volleyball team fell short to UConn, 3-2, inside the UConn Volleyball Center, on Saturday afternoon in Storrs, Conn. The scores of the sets were 25-20, 21-25, 22-25, 25-18 and 12-15.

Erin Jones notched her second straight and fourth triple-double of the season. The junior racked up a match-leading 18 kills, 14 assists and 13 digs. The Alberquerque, N.M., product also led the match with five aces paired with five blocks.

Rashanny Solano Smith was phenomenal for the Red Storm, securing a match-leading 23 digs, four helpers and a service ace. The libero currently leads St. John's (14-8, 3-5 BIG EAST) with 275 digs this season.

Lucrezia Lodi logged her fourth double-double of the campaign and the third in as many matches on Saturday. The Italy native registered 13 kills, 13 digs and three total rejections.

Magda Stambrowska secured 11 kills at a 30.8 percent clip with two block assists. Ludovica Zola led the squad with six total blocks.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk paced the Red Storm by producing 29 assists. The standout also recorded eight digs and a solo rejection. Sujeili Mermella served 11 balls for the Red Storm with no errors against UConn (18-2, 6-2 BIG EAST).

As a team, the Johnnies, led the contest with 67 digs, 60 kills and six aces.

Jones kicked off the opening stanza by serving the Red Storm to a 5-0 advantage, leading to UConn's first timeout of the set. After trading spurts to a 16-11 lead, St. John's scored back-to-back points off a Huskey service error and a Zola and Lodi block assist to lead by seven, 18-11. UConn cut its deficit back down to five, 20-15, but the Red Storm held on after exchanging side outs for a 25-20 set one victory. Giorgia Walther threw down seven kills in the first frame.

The second game opened to a 5-5 draw until UConn rang up three consecutive points to lead, 8-5, and force a St. John's timeout. The Huskies continued to grow its lead to six, 13-7, with a 5-2 stretch that caused the Johnnies to call their final timeout of the set. Down 15-9, the Red Storm used a 4-1 stretch that was engineered by three UConn errors to cut its deficit to three, 16-13. Despite St. John's battling the Huskies late and contesting back-to-back set points, UConn held on to win the second game, 25-21. Lodi and Jones each registered four kills in the second set.

The squads traded scores to a 9-9 stalemate at the start of the third frame, before the Red Storm notched three consecutive points on a Walther kill and two Jones aces for a 12-9 edge. UConn quickly scored three straight points of its own, tying the match at 12 and causing the Red Storm to talk things over. Knotted at 15, the Huskies put together a 5-1 rally, taking a 20-16 lead and forcing St. John's second timeout of the game. Leading 23-20, UConn was able to take the third stanza, 25-22, after two challenges on set point by the Johnnies. The third set featured 10 ties and four lead changes.

St. John's raced out to a 6-3 lead behind a trio of Jones slams to kick off the fourth frame, leading to an early UConn timeout. The Red Storm kept its foot on the gas, building a 9-5 rally on five kills between Walther, Stambrowska, Lodi and Zola to take a seven-point, 15-8 advantage. The Huskies exchanged blows with the Johnnies the rest of the way, but St. John's didn't look back, claiming a 25-18 fourth-set decision to force an extra frame. Jones fired off eight kills in the penultimate game.

Following a 4-4 tie to start the final stanza, UConn capitalized on a Red Storm service error and a Grace Maria kill to lead, 6-4. The Johnnies retied the match at seven off a 3-1 spurt, but UConn quickly retook a two-point edge, 10-8. UConn held its lead to the end of the match, claiming the final frame and the contest, 15-12. Walther logged three kills in the final set.

St. John's will return to Carnesecca Arena for a midweek matchup with Villanova on Wednesday. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. in Queens.