Big East Roundup: St. John’s Rallies from Down 0-2; Creighton Sweeps

Big East Roundup – Sept. 21, 2018

St. John’s rallied from down two sets to secure its first Big East win of the season, downing Xavier. Meanwhile, #13 Creighton, Butler and Marquette won via sweep to round out the night’s action.

**Match of the Night** –  St. John’s def. Xavier 3-2 (26-28, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20, 17-15)

• St. John’s moves to 12-5, 1-1 Big East; Xavier falls to 2-10; 0-1 Big East
• Box Score
• St. John’s Recap / Xavier Recap

Notables

• After having its comeback denied and falling to Georgetown in five sets in Wednesday’s conference opener, St. John’s rallied from down 2-0 to win in five on Friday.
• Xavier hit .300 or better in the first two sets and failed to break .125 in the final three. The Musketeers outhit the Red Storm .178 to .156.
• Xavier piled up 21 blocks in the match, while allowing 10, but trailed 11-2 in aces and 70-66 in aces.

Key Players

• Four St. John’s players managed double-digit kill efforts: Kayley Wood (16), Rachele Rastelli (15), Efrosini Alexakou (14) and Nia Diaz (13). Diaz hit at a team-best .478 clip, while Alexakou finished off a double-double with 15 digs.
• Erica DiMaulo dished out 60 assists and added 13 digs and three blocks to finish off a double-double of her own.
• Amanda Sanabia scooped up 32 digs for the Red Storm.
• Norah Painter (16), Laura Grossman (13) and Audrey Adams (13) paced the Musketeer offense. Grossman tacked on a team-best 25 digs to complete a double-double.
• Jada Carlton piled up 12 blocks and posted seven kills on a team-best .333 hitting effort. Adams and Moriah Hopkins notched seven blocks apiece.

How It Happened

• The lead changed hands seven times in Set 1. Xavier trailed 23-20 but scored five of the next six, thwarting a set-point try to earn one of its own at 25-24. After two St. John’s scores, the Musketeers scored three straight, two on Red Storm miscues to win 28-26.
• St. John’s led 17-13 in Set 2, only to see the set slip away. Xavier grabbed a 20-18 lead with a 7-1 run, including two kills and a block by Adams. The Musketeers missed out on two set-point tries (24-23 and 25-24), but came through on their third at 26-25 with a stuff by Nadia Dieudonne and Adams.
• The Red Storm used an 11-3 run, including three Diaz kills, in Set 3 to turn a 6-4 deficit into a 15-9 lead. Xavier rallied to take a 21-20 lead with a 6-0 run, but could not hang on. Down 23-22, a Rastelli putaways and two Xavier miscues extended the match with a 25-23 SJU win.
• After 12 ties in Set 4, the last at 20-all, St. John’s sent the match to a decisive fifth set with a final 5-0 push. Three kills and a pair of XU miscues made up the final run.
• The teams traded point for point in Set 5, with neither leading by more than one. Facing match point at 14-13, Xavier kept hope alive with kills by Adams and Grossman to earn one of its own. St. John’s called timeout and scored three straight out of the break, capped by back-to-back Wood putaways to finish off the comeback at 17-15.

#SJUVB takes three straight sets to take the match 3-2! pic.twitter.com/HSvhgM8xwN

— St. John's VBall (@StJohnsVB) September 22, 2018

Other Results

#13 Creighton def. DePaul 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-15)

• Creighton moves to 9-4, 1-0 Big East; DePaul falls to 2-10, 0-1 Big East
• Box Score
• Creighton Recap / DePaul Recap
• Creighton hit at a season-high .437 clip in the match, including a .517 effort in Set 1. DePaul hit .092 for the match, including a -.033 mark in Set 2.
• Creighton led the match in kills (45-24), aces (7-1) and blocks (6-2).
• Creighton’s Taryn Kloth was the lone player in the match with double-digit kills, notching 11 on a .409 hitting effort.
• Six DePaul players managed three or more kills in the match with Emma Price and Mattie Norris posted a team-best five apiece.
• The Bluejays’ senior class moved to 30-0 against Big East teams at D.J. Sokol Arena.

Marquette def. Providence 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-21)

• Marquette moves to 10-3, 1-0 Big East; Providence falls to 6-6, 0-1 Big East
• Box Score
• Marquette Recap / Providence Recap
• Marquette hit .344 for the match, including a .517 effort in Set 2, while limiting Providence to a .209 effort.
• Alli Barber led Marquette with 16 kills on a .393 hitting effort, while Anna Haak added 12 kills and four blocks, while hitting .409.
• Allison Impellizeri notched 10 kills on a match-high .533 hitting effort (10-2-15) to lead Providence.

Butler def. Seton Hall 3-0 (25-13, 26-24, 25-20)

• Butler moves to 4-9, 1-0 Big East; Seton Hall moves to 5-10, 0-2 Big East
• Box Score
• Butler Recap / Seton Hall Recap
• Butler outhit Seton Hall .313 to .143 and outblocked the Pirates 9.5 to 3.
• Bri Lilly notched 15 kills on a .500 hitting effort (15-2-26) and put up a team-best five blocks to pace the Bulldogs.
• Caitlin Koska put down nine kills, but hit just .077 for the Pirates.

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