St. John’s Suffers Setback in Five-Set Marathon at Villanova

Friday, October 23

Villanova, Pa.

7 p.m.

St. John's University

15-7,5-4Big East

Villanova

11-9,4-5Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
St. John's (NY)	25	25	20	25	10	2
Villanova	27	11	25	14	15	3

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

10/23/2026 9:59:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Tesoro and Carcillo each recorded a double-double on Friday night

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The St. John's volleyball team opened the second half of conference play with a tough 3-2 setback at the hands of Villanova on Friday evening.

After dropping an intense first set, St. John's (15-7, 5-4 BIG EAST) offense kicked into gear in set two and ripped off a monster 12-0 run to start the frame. Villanova (11-9, 4-5 BIG EAST) bounced back in the third. After falling in the fourth frame, 'Nova was able to fend off the Red Storm comeback in the final frame. The set scores were 25-27, 25-11, 20-25, 25-14 and 10-15.

St. John's held the advantage across all categories, firing 58 kills on a .206 team hitting percentage and serving eight aces. Carola Tesoro and Maggie Carcillo each recorded a double-double.

Tesoro led all players with 22 kills and added 10 digs to her log. Carcillo dished out a team-best 27 helpers, while logging 12 digs and setting a new career-best with a match-high six service aces. Chloe Bell fired a career-high 15 kills and swung an astounding .583. Rashanny Solano Smith tallied 20 digs. Bell led all players with 3.5 total blocks (7 BA).

St. John's ran out to an early lead in the opening set, grabbing a 7-2 advantage and growing it to as many as seven at 12-5. Villanova managed to grab a pair of tallies before the media timeout at 15-7. A 4-1 spurt by the Wildcats brought them back to within five at 17-12 and kept pressing to come within one at 19-18. Consecutive service errors in the red zone by 'Nova opened the door for St. John's to pull away, but the Red Storm were unable to capitalize, with the Wildcats coming back to level the set at 22-22. A pair of quick tallies by the Red Storm triggered set point, but a Villanova stoppage at 24-22 proved to be successful and resulted in two tallies for the home team. The Wildcats were able to rattle off two unanswered points to take the back-and-forth set at 27-25.

The St. John's offense was nothing short of explosive in the second frame, firing 12 unanswered tallies to start the frame. The 12-point rally is the longest of the season thus far. Following the second Villanova stoppage at 12-0, a pair of long rallies broke the home team's way and into the media timeout at 15-4. The Johnnies rolled through the remainder of the frame to a 25-11 victory and leveled the match at 1-1.

Game three began with both teams trading blows, but Villanova was able to grab a two-point cushion at 10-8. The Wildcat lead bubbled to five, forcing St. John's to call a timeout at 14-9. Following the media timeout at 15-11, the two sides went point-for-point to 19-15. Entering the red zone, Villanova kept the lead at five to take the set, 25-20, and a 2-1 match lead.

The Red Storm bounced back to start the fourth set and was able to build a double-digit lead at 14-4. As the set continued, both teams went back and forth to 19-9 and, as it entered the red zone, the Red Storm cruised to a 25-14 set win and sent the match to an ultimate fifth frame.

Villanova came out firing to start the final set, engineering a 7-1 run in the early stages. St. John's refused to back down and came within three at 9-6 to force a Wildcat timeout. In the end, Villanova was able to close the door to take a 15-10 set win a 3-2 match victory.

St. John's is back in action tomorrow at Georgetown in Washington, D.C. First serve against the Hoyas is set for 6 p.m. in McDonough Gym.