St. John’s Downed by No. 3 Penn State, 3-0

Saturday, September 14

University Park, Pa. (Rec Hall)

6:30 p.m.

St. John's University

6-3,0-0Big East

No. 3 Penn State

8-0,0-0Big Ten

St. John's (NY)

Penn St.

St. John's took down NJIT in straight sets on Tuesday night.

9/14/2024 9:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Erin Jones and Giorgia Walther were named to the Penn State Invitational All-Tournament Team

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The St. John's volleyball team fell to No. 3 Penn State, 3-0, on Saturday night inside Rec Hall to close out the Penn State Invitational. The scores of the sets were 19-25, 22-25 and 15-25.

Erin Jones and Giorgia Walther were each tabbed to the Penn State Invitational All-Tournament Team. Jones registered 39 kills, 31 assists, 26 digs and 11 blocks across the tournament. The Junior also notched the second triple-double in program history and of her career against Princeton on Friday.

Walther was excellent over the weekend for St. John's (7-3), totaling 42 kills, 13 digs, five blocks and four aces. The Italy native posted a season-high 25 kills against Duke on Saturday afternoon.

Jones posted a team-high 14 kills against Penn State (8-0) on a 33.3 percent success rate with nine assists, three digs and three blocks.

In her first career start, Ana Benjamim racked up a season-high nine kills, four digs, an assist and a service ace. Walther logged four kills, two digs and an ace.

Wiktoria Kowalczyk led the Johnnies with 16 helpers and contributed four digs, two rejections and two kills.

Rashanny Solano Smith rang up a match-high eight digs while Magda Stambrowska registered three block assists, three digs and two kills.

Penn State opened the match with an 8-6 lead, but a Nittany Lion attack error and a Jones kill knotted things at 8-all. Tied at 9, Penn State went on a 6-3 spurt to take a three-point, 15-12 edge over the Red Storm. The Nittany Lions grew their lead to six, 21-15, and held its advantage, even with pressure from St. John's, for a 25-19 first set victory. Jones led the Johnnies with five kills at an efficient 41.7 percent clip.

The second frame opened to a 5-3 Red Storm advantage after it ripped off four straight points, featuring two kills and a block from Jones. The Nittany Lions fired back to even the set at 8-8 until the Johnnies went on a 5-1 stretch engineered by a kill and an ace from Benjamim to go up by four, 13-9. The Nittany Lions were able to knot the stanza up at 14 after registering five consecutive points, but St. John's got right back into the frame, tying things back at 17-17. Knotted at 20, Penn State went on a 5-2 run to close out the second game, 25-22, despite two contested set points. Jones tacked on another five kills in the second set.

The Nittany Lions raced out to a 10-5 lead to begin the third stanza, capitalizing on three blocks and burning both of the Red Storm's timeouts. The two teams went back-and-forth through the middle of the set until Penn State ballooned its lead to seven, 19-12. The Nittany Lions held its momentum to the very end, taking the third and final frame, 25-15.

St. John's will return to Carnesecca Arena on Wednesday night for a midweek matchup with Fairfield. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Queens.