QUEENS, N.Y. – The Butler volleyball team beat St. John's in four sets (24-26, 27-25, 25-14, 25-17) Sunday afternoon in New York City for its first undefeated weekend of the season. The Bulldogs (13-11, 6-4 BIG EAST) turned things around after dropping the first set and trailing 15-7 midway through the second set before rallying back to win it and easily taking the final two frames. Butler beat the Red Storm (13-11, 4-6) for the second time this season after sweeping them at home earlier this month. With the win, the Bulldogs jumped to fourth place in the conference standings.

Set 1: St. John's 26-24
Back-to-back kills by Brittany Robinson and Mariah Grunze helped the Bulldogs get out to an early 9-5 lead. A later 3-0 run capped off by an ace from Grunze gave Butler a 15-10 lead, and the advantage would be extended to as much as six at 20-14 before St. John's rallied back with a 9-1 run to take the lead. The Bulldogs would tie it at 23-23 and 24-24, but the Red Storm would put away the set with a kill and an ace. Davidson led the Butler offense with four kills in the first period.

Set 2: Butler 27-25
The Red Storm built an eight-point lead at 14-6 and 15-7 before the Bulldogs rallied back. Grunze had a kill as part of a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to two at 18-16, and later kills by Destiny Cherry and Amina Shackelford followed by a Robinson ace helped form a 4-0 run that gave Butler a 24-23 lead. Davidson fended off a set point for St. John's with a kill before Marissa McKelvey served up an ace and Cherry put down a kill to clinch the set for the Bulldogs. Shackelford (four kills), Grunze (three) and Robinson (three) paced the Butler offense in the second frame.

Set 3: Butler 25-14
Two kills by Shackelford and one from Robinson helped the Bulldogs lead 4-0 early. A later 3-0 run with kills by Megan Sheridan and Grunze extended the lead to 14-8, before back-to-back kills from Cherry capped off a 4-0 streak that gave Butler a 22-12 advantage, and the Bulldogs would cruise from there. Robinson and Shackelford had four kills each in the third set.

Set 4: Butler 25-17
Early kills by Robinson and Grunze sandwiched an ace from McKelvey to put the Bulldogs ahead 4-1 early. St. John's would slowly climb back to force a tie at 9-all, but Grunze and Sheridan kills helped form a 12-9 lead for Butler. A later 5-0 run on Caroline Cleveland's serve gave the Bulldogs a comfortable 22-15 advantage, and they would cruise from there to take the set and match. Robinson posted five kills in the final frame to finish her fine performance.

Stat of the Match
Butler outhit St. John's by over 100 points in the match (.220 to .119).

Inside the Box Score
- Robinson tied a season-high with 15 kills on a .464 hitting percentage to go along with three blocks, two digs and an ace.
- Davidson scored 14.5 points on seven kills and a season-best 11 blocks (four solo, seven assist).
- Grunze stuffed the stat sheet with nine kills, seven digs, four blocks, an ace and an assist.
- Shackelford put down 11 kills and added a block.
- Jaymeson Kinley secured 17 digs and contributed four assists.

Up Next
The Bulldogs return to the court for more BIG EAST play this Friday night at Xavier at 6 p.m. before hosting UConn on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.