Red Storm Volleyball Powers Past Butler, 3-1, on Pink Day

Saturday, October 3

Queens, N.Y.

5 p.m.

St. John's University

13-4,3-1Big East

Butler

9-7,3-1Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Butler	18	21	25	20	1
St. John's (NY)	25	25	13	25	3

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

Red Storm Volleyball Powers Past Butler, 3-1, on Pink Day

10/3/2026 8:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

St. John’s sweeps the weekend and move to 3-1 in conference play

QUEENS, N.Y. – St. John's Volleyball secured its second league win of the weekend with a 3-1 decision over Butler on Saturday evening. With the win, St. John's has won eight of its last 10 contests, and is 7-3 in its last 10 BIG EAST matches dating back to the end of the 2025 season.

After taking a two-set lead, the Red Storm (13-4, 3-1 BIG EAST) had to battle back against a relentless Bulldog (9-7, 3-1 BIG EAST) attacking unit over the final pair of games, but came out on top in the end. The set scores were 25-18, 25-22, 13-25 and 25-20.

"We want to thank our fans for packing Carnesecca Arena. Our Seventh Player tonight was our loyal and loud fan base," said Head Coach Joanne Persico. "We had some great leadership from our captain [Rashanny Solano Smith] tonight in this gutsy win. I'm proud of this team effort."

The Red Storm fired 51 kills, just edging out Butler's 50. Despite having fewer aces, the Johnnies committed four fewer errors at the line than the Bulldogs. St. John's notched 54 digs, and both teams blocked 10.0 total shots.

Carola Tesoro recorded a match-best 16 kills, adding a pair of aces and seven digs to her stat line. Lejla Hadziredzepovicfired 10 kills, her ninth straight match with a double-digit kill total. Maggie Carcillo quarterbacked the offense by tying the match-best 27 helpers with Butler's Ava Hunter. Rashanny Solano Smith tallied 22 digs, her third straight match with 20-plus digs. Teodora Stamenkovic rejected 5.0 total shots (2 BS, 6 BA).

St. John's came out firing on all cylinders to start the first set, powering all the way to the media timeout at 15-5. The Johnnies continued to use an all-around offensive effort as they pushed nearly into the red zone at 19-8 and forced Butler to take a stoppage at 19-8. The Bulldogs refused to go down quietly as they chipped away at the lead to bring it within six at 21-16. St. John's shook off the threat and took a 25-18 opening set win.

Butler hit its stride to open the second game, forcing St. John's to burn both its timeouts by 7-1. The Red Storm found some momentum and cut the deficit to a pair of tallies at 10-8. Butler tried to keep the two-point distance, but at 14-12, the Johnnies fired three unanswered points to take their first lead into the media timeout at 15-14. An ensuing 6-2 St. John's spurt forced Butler to take its final timeout at 21-17. After St. John's triggered set point at 24-20, the Bulldogs were able to fend off a pair of set-point tries, but Hadziredzepovic called the set with a cross-net kill, 25-22, and gave the home team a 2-0 match lead.

Frame three saw both squads exchange points in the early going, but Butler jumped out to a five-point lead at 9-4 and made St. John's take a timeout. The Bulldogs continued to roll through the set and forced a fourth game in a 25-13 decision.

Butler ran out to another early advantage to start the fourth set at 6-1. St. John's answered back with six unanswered points of its own to take its first lead of the set at 7-6. The pair of teams exchanged tallies through the middle portion of the set, but the Red Storm were able to string together a trio of points to take a 14-13 lead after a successful coaches' challenge. The Bulldogs were relentless and fought back to reclaim the lead and go up 17-15. The Johnnies responded with a 5-0 spurt and took the lead once again at 20-17. Butler would come within one at 20-19, but the home team powered through the red zone and took the final set 25-20 and the match 3-1.

St. John's hits the road for its first road match in nearly four weeks for a pair of conference battles. On Friday, Oct. 9, the Red Storm take on UConn in Storrs, Conn., for a 5 p.m. first serve. The next day, the Johnnies travel to Providence, R.I., to square off with the Friars at 3 p.m.