NEW YORK – St. John’s and Creighton were selected by the league’s head coaches as the top teams in their respective divisions for the 2021 spring BIG EAST Volleyball season. St. John’s junior outside hitter Efrosini Alexakou was voted Preseason Player of the Year.
 
The Red Storm won the 2019 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship title, while Creighton advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round after winning its sixth-straight BIG EAST regular-season title.
 
In the preseason polls, St. John’s was the unanimous top pick in the East Division, receiving all the possible first-place votes and 16 points. Villanova was voted second and the remaining first place vote with 13 points. Connecticut (8 points), Seton Hall (7 points) and Providence (6 points) rounded out the East.
 
Creighton received three first-place votes from the Midwest Division coaches and 15 points. Marquette received the other two first-place votes and ranked second with 14 points. Rounding out the Midwest Division is DePaul (8 points). Xavier (7 points) and Butler (6 points). Both Creighton and Marquette are nationally ranked in the AVCA preseason poll, released Jan. 5. The Bluejays rank 15th, with the Golden Eagles No. 20.
 
Preseason Player of the Year Alexakou was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2019 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship, collecting 29 kills across the Red Storm’s two matches, helping St. John’s win the tournament for the first time since 2007. Alexakou was selected to the 2019 AVCA All-East Coast Region Team and earned honorable mention as an All-American by Volleymag.com. Alexakou was a unanimous pick for the 2019 All-BIG EAST team. During the season, she ranked second in the BIG EAST with 4.73 points per set and 4.23 kills per set. The outside hitter registered over 20 kills on four occasions and recorded the most kills by a BIG EAST player in a four-set match after racking up 28 kills in the Red Storm's 3-1 win over then-No. 14 Oregon. She was named BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week twice as a sophomore. Alexakou was the 2018 BIG EAST Freshman of the Year.
 
Along with Efrosini, the Spring 2021 Preseason All-BIG EAST squad has four unanimous selections: Creighton junior outside hitter Jaela Zimmerman, DePaul junior middle hitter Donna Brown, Marquette senior outside hitter Hope Werch and St. John’s junior ride side hitter Rachele Rastelli. The complete preseason all-conference team is listed below.
 
Conference play for BIG EAST volleyball this season will start Feb. 19. The teams will play divisionally until the championship, where the top two seeds from the East will play the top two seeds from the Midwest.
 
Coaches cast votes only for their respective divisions for the preseason polls. Preseason Player of the Year and all-conference selections were based on ballots cast by all of the league’s head coaches, regardless of division. Coaches cannot vote for their own team or student-athletes.


Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Honors
 
Preseason BIG EAST Volleyball Player of the Year
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John’s, Jr., OH
 
Preseason All-BIG EAST *
(listed alphabetically by institution, then last name)
Melody Davidson, Butler, R-Jr., MB    
Keeley Davis, Creighton, So., OH         
Erica Kostelac, Creighton, Sr., OH
Jaela Zimmerman, Creighton, Jr., OH ^
Donna Brown, DePaul. Jr., MH ^    
Hannah Vanden Berg, Marquette, So., OH        
Hope Werch, Marquette, Sr., OH ^       
Taylor Wolf, Marquette, Sr., RS/Setter     
Jennifer Leitman, Providence, So., OH
Efrosini Alexakou, St. John’s, Jr., OH ^           
Rachele Rastelli, St. John’s, Jr. RS ^  
Sophia Howling, Villanova, RS-Jr., MH
Lauren Hanlon, Xavier, RS-So., RS
 
Preseason Coaches’ Polls
First-place votes in ()
 

East Division		Midwest Division
1.    St. John’s (4)	16 pts.	1. Creighton (3)	15 pts.
2.    Villanova (1)	13	2. Marquette (2)	14
3.    Connecticut	8	3. DePaul	8
4.    Seton Hall	7	4. Xavier	7
5.    Providence	6	5. Butler	6

 
^ denotes unanimous selection
* There are 13 members of the Spring 2021 Preseason All-BIG EAST Volleyball squad due to a tie in voting.