The St. John’s volleyball team is preparing to host its final weekend home matches of the 2025 regular season at Carnesecca Arena in Queens, New York. The Red Storm will face UConn on Friday at 7 p.m. and Providence on Saturday at 3 p.m., both part of BIG EAST conference play.
Friday’s match will feature a Halloween Costume Contest for attendees, with candy prizes awarded to winners. On Saturday, the program will hold Alumni Day, including a pre-match reception in the Hall of Fame starting at 1 p.m.
Fans can follow live statistics on redstormsports.com, and both matches will be streamed on ESPN+. Johnny Gadamowitz and Nick DeLuca will provide commentary for Friday’s game, while DeLuca will handle Saturday’s broadcast.
Head Coach Joanne Persico is approaching a career milestone, needing just one more win to reach 600 victories. Now in her 32nd season with St. John’s, Persico ranks 16th among active head coaches in total wins and holds the record for most wins by a coach at a single BIG EAST program. In recent meetings against this weekend’s opponents, Persico has guided St. John’s to an even split (5-5) against UConn and a strong advantage (9-1) over Providence across their last ten matchups.
Senior Erin Jones was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after recording her sixth and seventh triple-doubles of the season last week—leading all players in the conference in that category.
Last weekend during road games against Xavier and Butler, Jones tallied another two triple-doubles. Against Xavier she posted 10 kills, 21 assists, and 10 digs; Martina Ghezzi led with 11 kills while Martina Capponcelli contributed 19 assists; Rashanny Solano Smith collected 24 digs defensively. At Butler, Jones recorded another triple-double with 18 kills, 19 assists, and 13 digs; Ghezzi had a double-double with 15 kills and 14 digs; Solano Smith set a season-high with 25 digs.
Earlier this month St. John’s defeated Providence in four sets during a match marked by numerous ties and lead changes but lost to UConn despite Ella Parker achieving a career-high of 16 kills.
UConn enters the weekend holding a record of 16-6 overall (5-5 BIG EAST), sitting just outside playoff qualification for the conference tournament with six matches left in their schedule. The Huskies have won three out of their last five games played at Carnesecca Arena but were defeated by St. John’s there last year during NIVC Great Eight action.
Statistically within the BIG EAST Conference, UConn ranks third in team hitting percentage (.262), leads in service aces (188 total/2.32 per set), and stands second nationally in those categories among NCAA Division I teams. Emma Werkmeister leads UConn offensively with both team-high kills (245) and an NCAA-leading total of service aces (56).
Providence holds an overall record of 10-13 (1-9 BIG EAST). St. John’s has won seven straight matches over Providence—including nine out of their past ten meetings—and holds an advantage when playing them at home; Providence last won in Queens during fall of 2021.
Defensively Providence tops the league rankings for blocks (202 total/2.43 per set) as well as being second in total digs (1,209) and third per set (14.57). Hadley Pride is ranked seventh nationally for total digs (313) and third for average digs per set (5.36).
After this homestand concludes, St John’s will travel next week for away games against Marquette on Nov. 7 followed by DePaul on Nov 8.
