Pirates Drop BIG EAST Opener at St. John's

Box

QUEENS, N.Y. – Junior Alondra Villanueva (Lima, Peru) had a match-high nine kills, but the Seton Hall women's volleyball team fell to St. John's in the 2026 BIG EAST Conference opener, 3-0 (19-25, 18-25, 17-25), in Queens on Wednesday.

Despite the final scores the match was close through two sets, but St. John's dominated the Pirates in set three.

Junior Gwen Adler (Barrington, Ill.) finished with 18 assists and six digs. Rylee Nelson (Mazeppa, Minn.) had a team-high 11 digs, leaving her just nine short of 1,000 for her career.

SET 1:
With the score tied at four, the Pirates scored six of the next seven points, and a block by Alex Rasmussen (Lincoln, Neb.) gave them a 10-5 lead. Trailing 11-6, St. john's struck back with a 6-0 run to grab a 12-11 advantage. A kill by Samantha Shelton (Oak Park, Ill.) cut The Hall's deficit to 20-18, but the Red Storm closed out the set with a 5-1 burst to win, 25-19. Seton Hall had a .078 attack percentage in the opening frame, compared to .243 for St. John's.

SET 2:
After trailing for the majority of the second set, a three-point run tied the score at 16. St. John's answered with a 6-1 run to grab a 22-17 lead, and in the process, force Seton Hall to burn both of its timeouts. A kill by Villanueva cut The Hall's deficit to 22-18, but the Red Storm closed out the set with three straight points to win, 25-18.

SET 3:
The Pirates scored the first three points of the third set, but St. John's was able to tie the set at six. With the score tied at 10, the Red Storm went on a 9-1 run to grab a commanding 19-11 advantage and force a Seton hall timeout. St. John's went on to a 25-17 victory to sweep the Pirates in straight sets. The Red Storm had a match-high .343 attack percentage in the final set.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Villanueva had a team-high nine kills and five digs.
• Adler tallied 18 assists and six digs.
• Nelson had a team-high 11 digs.
• Rasmussen tallied five blocks and three kills.
• Seton Hall recorded a .080 attack percentage for the match, while St. John's attacked at .284.
• The Pirates had 25 kills, while St. John's had 46.
• The Hall tallied 33 digs, while the Red Storm had 43.
• Seton Hall had 7.0 team blocks, while St. John's had 8.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

• Seton Hall falls to 8-5 on the season, while St. John's improves to 11-3.
• The Hall drops to 20-25 all-time against the Red Storm and has dropped the last four matches in the series.
• The Pirates are now 3-3 in three-set matches this season.
• Today's match is the first BIG EAST contest of the season for both teams.

UP NEXT:
The Pirates will return to action on Friday, Sept. 24 when they host defending BIG EAST champion Creighton in Walsh Gymnasium. Match time is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.

They are greatly underfunded compared to many teams on the schedule.

No true fan would call them terrible. Instead, I'm proud of how hard they compete against superior talent.

There have been comments since the beginning of the season that the team is terrible..

We understand that they are challenged. But that's as much on the administration as the players. Money that they sorely need is going to other sports. Specifically men's and women's BB.

Silk is an incredible fan. He's not kidding when he says he attends as many games as possible for all sports.