Volleyball falls in five to St. John's in BIG EAST Semis

Box Score (PDF)

MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women's volleyball team fell in five sets, 3-2 (11-25, 25-14, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13), to third-seeded St. John's in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Conference Women's Volleyball Championship Presented by JEEP on Friday afternoon at the Al McGuire Center.

The Golden Eagles (20-10) dominated the opening set by hitting .444 with five team blocks, but eventually fell after taking a 2-1 advantage after three sets and going up 5-1 to start the fifth.

"We missed a few opportunities," MU head coach Ryan Theis said. "The time to take advantage was the fourth set and then we jumped out a lead in the fifth, but missed opportunities throughout. It's really tough to win against a good team and we knew (Lucrezia) Lodi and (Erin) Jones could get hot and they did. When you are playing against two hot hitters you have to execute on your end and we missed too many chances."

The Red Storm (23-9) advanced to their first BIG EAST title match since they won the event in 2019 at the Al McGuire Center. Lodi led St. John's with a match-high 20 kills and three service aces on a hitting mark of .302, while Jones posted a near triple-double with nine kills, 12 digs, 20 assists and a pair of aces.

NOTABLE:

The Golden Eagles are 13-15 all-time in the BIG EAST Championship.
Last season in the BIG EAST tournament, MU swept UConn in the semis and fell in five sets to tournament-host No. 15 Creighton. MU won the fourth set, 33-31, to even the title match before falling, 15-12, in the fifth.
St. John's hit .316 in a sweep of Villanova to open conference tournament play in Wednesday's first round at the Al McGuire Center. Jones and Lodi each landed a match-best 12 kills, while Lodi added 10 digs and a pair of blocks.
St. John's is the only other team outside of Marquette and Creighton to claim a BIG EAST title since the league reformed prior to the 2013 campaign. The Red Storm defeated both MU and CU on their way to a 2019 league tournament crown at the Al McGuire Center.
Marquette is 24-9 all-time against the Red Storm and all 33 meetings have come since MU joined the BIG EAST for the 2005 season. SJU won two of three matches against MU this season.
MU won the most recent meeting on last Friday evening at the Al McGuire Center in a 25-22, 25-17, 25-22 sweep. Jenna Reitsma had 12 kills in the win, while the Golden Eagles posted 11.0 team blocks in the three sets.
The Red Storm captured a five-set victory in the first matchup this season on Oct. 14 in Queens. MU won the second and third sets for the match advantage before SJU stormed back for a 25-22 win in the fourth and held off MU, 15-13, in the fourth.
SJU's Jones posted a triple-double in the win on Oct. 14 with 22 kills, 17 digs and 14 assists, in addition to an ace and four blocks. Giorgia Walther and Lucrezia Lodi each posted identical hitting marks of .260 (19-6-50) for SJU.

UP NEXT: The NCAA Selection Show is slated for 5 p.m. CT on Sunday, Nov. 26 on ESPN.

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