Marquette, St. John’s Advance To #BIGEASTvb Championship Final
Championship Central
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Marquette and St. John's advanced to the 2019 BIG EAST Women's Volleyball Championship presented by Jeep on Friday with semifinal wins over Villanova and Creighton. The Golden Eagles and Red Storm will meet Saturday for the championship title and the league's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Championship. The tournament selection show will air Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
Marquette, the No. 2 seed and tournament host, defeated Villanova 3-0 in the first semifinal; No. 4 seed pulled off the upset of No. 1 seed and five-time defending champion Creighton in the second semifinal match. It is the first time these two teams will meet in a BIG EAST Championship title match. Marquette leads the overall series with St. John's 18-5, while the Golden Eagles hold the postseason edge 1-0 after taking down the Red Storm 3-1 in the 2018 BIG EAST semifinals.
Marquette 3, Villanova 0 (25-22,25-18,25-19)
For the third straight year, No. 12 Marquette advanced to the BIG EAST Championship final as the Golden Eagles swept Villanova, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19 on Friday afternoon in the first semifinal of the day.
Allie Barber led the way with 16 kills for Marquette (27-4), while
Hannah Vanden Berg added 11 kills.
Gwyn Jones, Hope Werch and
Ellie Koontz contributed to the balanced attack as each Golden Eagle added eight kills as Jones and Koontz connected at a .538 and .500 clip, respectively.
Lauren Speckman and
Sarah Rose dished out 21 and 20 assists, respectively, while Werch led the squad defensively with 11 digs. Both teams hit over .300 in the match, while Mallory Potts led the Villanova (22-9) offense with 12 kills. Regan Lough led the Wildcats defense with 12 digs.
St. John's 3, Creighton 0 (25-17,25-23,26-24)
St. John's (21-11) advanced to the BIG EAST title match for the first time in 12 years after an inspired upset of No. 10 Creighton. The Red Storm upended the five-time BIG EAST champion Bluejays with a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-23, 26-24). The Johnnies held Creighton to a .098 hitting percentage, the second-lowest for the Bluejays on the season. Rachele Rastelli paced the SJU offense with 13 kills on .296 hitting. Sophomore outside hitter Efrosini Alexakou put down 10 kills of her own to go along with 12 digs and a service ace. Klara Mikelova neared a double-double with nine kills and 11 digs. Senior Erica Di Maulo dished out 34 assists to go along with four kills, two digs and two blocks. Creighton (24-5) was led by 14 kills from Jaela Zimmerman while Keeley Davis chipped in nine kills and 13 digs. Brittany Witt led the CU back line with 13 digs while Madelyn Cole dished out 34 assists and added four blocks.
2019 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship
Presented By Jeep
Semifinals - Nov. 29 - BEDN
No. 2 seed Marquette 3, No. 3 Villanova 0
No. 4 seed St. John's 3, No. 1 seed Creighton 0
Final - Nov. 30 - FS2
No. 4 seed St. John's at No. 2 Marquette 3:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. ET
All times listed are Eastern.