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Volleyball Wins BIG EAST Opener at Pittsburgh, 3-1
9/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
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PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Seton Hall volleyball team won its BIG EAST opener, 3-0 (22-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-22), at Pittsburgh on Friday night. It is the Pirates' (9-6, 1-0) first victory over the Panthers (10-5, 0-1) since 2002 and first on the road since 1998.
Freshman Stacey Manthorpe (Merion Station, Pa.) set career-highs with 16 kills and 14 digs for her second double-double of the season. Her twin sister, Shelbey Manthorpe (Merion Station, Pa) also had a big night, coming two kills shy of a triple-double. The setter handed out a career-best 41 assists, while picking up 12 digs, and eight kills.
Senior Meghan Matusiak (Winfield, Ill.) was held in check by her standards but came up big when it counted, posting seven of her 15 kills in the fourth set, including three clutch scores after the Panthers came back from a six-point deficit late in the game. Reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week Alyssa Warren (Joliet, Ill.) had a game-high 29 digs.
Set one went back-and-forth from the start, and saw eight tie scores and four lead changes. Eventually, the Panthers extended their cushion to 21-18 after a pair of miscues by SHU. The Pirates would close within two, but failed to come any closer as Pitt took the early match advantage.
SHU overcame a slow start in the second set and turned a 6-2 deficit into a 16-14 lead off of a Matusiak kill. Shelbey Manthorpe gave the Pirates a three-point margin with a kill, but the Panthers would not go away. Pittsburgh tied the score three more times down the stretch and SHU was forced to go to extra points after a service error evened things at 24-24. However, the Pirates clamped down and Matusiak and Stacey Manthorpe put the finishing touches on the come-from-behind set win with kills.
After the break, Seton Hall capitalized early and often off an assortment of Pittsburgh mistakes and built up a 19-11 lead. The Pirates went on to win the game, 25-18, despite having just seven kills.
In the fourth set, Matusiak and Morgan DeVries (Grand Rapids, Mich.) combined for seven kills to help SHU go ahead 20-14. Just as it looked as the Pirates would cruise to victory, the Panthers rattled off six in a row to tie the score. Pittsburgh committed a ball handling error on the next volley and Matusiak took over down the stretch with three more kills to give the Hall the victory.
The Pirates will travel to Morgantown, W. Va. to face the Mountaineers on Sunday, September 25, at 2:00 p.m.
