St. John’s Downs USC Upstate, 3-1, in Quest for the Crown Finale

Saturday, August 29

Norfolk, Va.

12 p.m.

St. John's University

2-1,0-0Big East

USC Upstate

2-1,0-0Big South

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
St. John's (NY)	25	25	14	25	3
USC Upstate	18	16	25	15	1

St. John’s Downs USC Upstate, 3-1, in Quest for the Crown Finale

8/29/2026 3:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score USC Upstate Box Score 2026 VB Record Book

Pair of Johnnies collect double-doubles in the final match of the opening weekend

NORFOLK, Va. – The St. John's volleyball team wrapped the Quest for the Crown with a strong showing during a 3-1 win over USC Upstate in Norfolk, Va., on Saturday afternoon.

The Red Storm (2-1) hit a weekend-best .317 and held the Spartans (2-1) to a .187 hitting percentage. The Johnnies only allowed USC Upstate to score more than 20 points in one set. The set scores were 25-18, 25-16, 14-25 and 25-15.

Carola Tesoro continued to impress in her first three collegiate matches, registering her second straight double-double enroute to MVP of the Match honors. The freshman finished with a match-high 23 kills and logged 13 digs, while swinging .409. Lejla Hadziredzepovic notched 13 kills.

Amanda Caputi also finished with a double-double, dishing out 28 assists and collecting 13 digs. Freshman Maggie Carcillo made her first collegiate start and finished with 16 helpers and added three digs. Rashanny Solano Smith led St. John's with 14 digs, while Teodora Stamenkovic anchored the front line with 3.5 total blocks.

USC Upstate came out hot and claimed a sizeable lead to start the first, forcing St. John's to take both its timeouts by 8-2. The Red Storm settled in and fought back to cut the deficit to three at 16-13. From there, St. John's rattled off a 12-2 run, capped by four kills from Tesoro, to claim the first set, 25-18.

Game two saw the Johnnies take a wire-to-wire set victory behind a well-balanced attack from Tesoro, Hadziredzepovic and Sumaiyya Harris. While the offense hit .357 in the set, the Red Storm defense held the Spartans to a .114 hitting percentage and blocked three total shots in the 25-16 game two win, holding a 2-0 match advantage.

Set three saw both squads exchange points in the early going, but the Spartans went up by as many as three at 11-8. After the media timeout, USC Upstate continued to press on as its lead grew to 17-11, and the Spartans wouldn't look back, taking set three by a score of 25-14.

In the fourth frame, the pair of teams went back and forth, as no one was willing to allow more than a two-point advantage. That was until the Johnnies used a 5-0 run and triggered the media timeout at 15-11. St. John's continued to push and held on to the lead the rest of the way, claiming the final frame, 25-15, and winning the match, 3-1.

St. John's will turn to Queens next weekend for the first edition of the Lou Carnesecca Invitational from Sept. 4-5. The Red Storm will host Rider, UAB and East Texas A&M for its first home tournament of the season.