Volleyball Stops Skid; Tops Villanova 3-2
10/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BOX SCORE (.html)
BOX SCORE (.pdf)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Freshman Shelbey Manthorpe (Merion Station, Pa.) posted 12 kills, 41 assists and a career-high 23 digs for her third triple-double of the season as the Seton Hall volleyball team stopped a four-game slide on Sunday, downing Villanova 3-2 (25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 18-25, 15-9). Manthorpe's three triple-doubles stand alone in program history and she now has the second most in the nation this year. With the victory, Seton Hall improves to 14-11 overall and 5-5 in BIG EAST matches.
Senior Meghan Matusiak (Winfield, Ill.) led the Pirate attack with 19 kills to go along with 16 digs of her own. Villanova (15-10, 7-4) was paced by 20 kills from junior Morgan Petkovich.
With the score tied 3-3, the Wildcats ran off a string of five straight points that would force SHU to play from behind for much of the first set. With Seton Hall mounting a run of their own, a kill by Villanova senior Maggie Mergen pushed the lead back to three at 13-10. Following a Villanova timeout with the score 16-14 in favor of the Wildcats, The Hall took three out of four points to knot the score at 17. A subsequent Matusiak kill would give the Pirates an 18-17 advantage that they would never relinquish. An Allison Williams strike brought the Wildcats back to within one at 19-18 but the Pirates answered with a kill by freshman Olivia Desormey (St. Charles, Ill.) and rode that momentum to take the set 25-19.
The second set played out with a similar storyline to the one that preceded it as Seton Hall fell into an early 4-0 hole. Trailing 8-2, SHU rattled off four straight points to cut the deficit to two. An attack error by VU junior Krista Andersen would level the score at 9, the first of six ties in the set. The teams would trade points until a Stacey Manthorpe (Merion Station, Pa.) kill put the Pirates in front 14-13. The seesaw affair would continue as a Mariah Henley ace drew the Wildcats level at 19-19. Seton Hall managed to open up a three point lead at 23-20 and closed out the set 25-22 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Hall again got off to a slow start in set three, but this time could not recover. Villanova jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back. With the score at 11-9, a kill from 'Nova's Andersen quelled a mounting SHU rally. The Wildcats took seven straight points to open up their largest lead of the match at 18-9. The two teams traded blows as the set wore on but Villanova held strong and put the set away at 25-16.
In set four, Villanova took eight of the first 12 points as they looked to stage off defeat. A kill by Matusiak closed the gap to two at 11-9 but VU responded with a three-point run to push the advantage back to five. SHU would cut the lead to three twice as the set progressed, the last coming at 18-15 on the strength of a strike from senior Krissy Wrobel (Reading, Pa.). The Wildcats never fully relented, winning 25-18 and pushing the Pirates to a decisive fifth set for the second straight match.
Seton Hall started strong in the final set, playing to a 6-2 lead. With the score at 7-4 and the Wildcats threatening, junior Morgan DeVries (Grand Rapids, Mich.) started a string of four consecutive points for Seton Hall. The seven-point spread proved too much for Villanova to overcome and Seton Hall closed the set 15-9 to secure the victory.
Stacey Manthorpe recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 22 digs and junior Alyssa Warren (Joliet, Ill.) added 18 digs in the winning effort. DeVries notched four kills on five attempts, providing a much needed injection of energy in the final two sets.
The Seton Hall volleyball team returns to the court next Saturday, Nov. 5 at Notre Dame (13-9, 6-4) in its first of two games in as many days. Start-time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
