Volleyball Falls in a Heartbreaker on the Road at Xavier, 3-2

Saturday, October 31

Cincinnati, Ohio

4 p.m.

St. John's University

17-8,7-5Big East

Xavier

14-9,7-5Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
St. John's (NY)	25	19	25	18	13	2
Xavier	13	25	16	25	15	3

Lejla Hadziredzepovic led St. John’s with 11 kills.

Photo by: Vincent Dusovic

10/31/2026 7:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Red Storm to host Providence and UConn next weekend

CINCINNATI – The St. John's volleyball team suffered a heartbreaking setback at the hands of Xavier on Saturday afternoon, 3-2, in the Cintas Center.

St. John's (17-8, 7-5 BIG EAST) claimed the first and third sets, with Xavier (14-9, 7-5 BIG EAST) taking sets two and four to force a fifth. The set scores were 25-13, 19-25, 25-16, 18-25 and 13-15.

St. John's fired 60 kills on the evening and served four aces. Defensively, the Red Storm notched 79 digs and rejected 11.0 total shots.

Chloe Bell led all players in the match with a career-best 18 kills and swung .533. She added three digs and 2.0 total blocks (1 BS, 2 BA). Carola Tesoro and Lejla Hadziredzepovic fired 14 and 13 kills, respectively, and Kendall White chipped in 10. Amanda Caputi dished out 32 helpers. Rashanny Solano Smith tallied a match-high 26 digs, and Hadziredzepovic led the team with 4.0 total blocks (3 BS, 2 BA).

Frame one was tightly contested to start, featuring five tied scores and five lead changes, but the Red Storm found its stride and was able to go up by four at the media timeout at 15-11. Following the stoppage, a 6-1 swing put distance between the two teams as St. John's marched on to a 25-13 set win.

Xavier settled in over the course of the second game and went up 6-2 to start. St. John's answered with three unanswered to cut the lead to one at 7-6. Xavier's offense continued to press on to the media timeout at 15-9. Both teams traded tallies as the set continued, but the Musketeers were relentless as the advantage grew to as many as eight at 20-12. XU rolled through the red zone and took game two, 25-19, to level the match at 1-1.

A quick 4-1 run to start helped St. John's take control early, and it kept the home team at arm's length to the media timeout at 15-9. The Johnnies continued to push through the middle portion of the set and extended the lead to eight at 20-12 in the red zone. Both teams traded points the rest of the way as St. John's took the set, 25-16, and a 2-1 match advantage.

The Musketeers held a slight edge in the early portion of the fourth set and eventually went up by five at 9-4. Xavier continued to roll, and their advantage grew to eight at 13-5, but a 4-0 spurt by the Johnnies slashed the lead in half to 13-9. After Xavier went up 15-11 at the media timeout, both teams exchanged tallies to 17-15. The home team built another formidable cushion, and it held strong to 25-18 and sent the contest to an ultimate fifth frame.

After four unanswered tallies by Xavier to start, St. John's called timeout to halt the momentum. The Red Storm rattled off two straight and cut the lead in half at 6-3. Both teams refused to give in as the Musketeers' two-point lead was pushed to the brink at 14-12. The Red Storm fired a kill to fend off match point, but one point from Xavier was all that was needed to end the match at 15-13 and 3-2 in favor of Xavier.

Following this weekend, St. John's returns to Queens for the final regular-season matches at home. The Red Storm welcome a red-hot Providence team on Friday, Nov. 6. The next day, the program will honor its lone senior, Solano Smith, and host its annual Alumnae Day prior to first serve against UConn.