Seton Hall travels to Xavier, Butler This Weekend

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2016
SETON HALL (10-12, 4-5) at
XAVIER (11-11, 5-4)
Cintas Center – Cincinnati, Ohio
3:00 p.m. ET
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | TWITTER

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016
SETON HALL (10-12, 4-5) at BUTLER (15-10, 4-5)
Hinkle Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, Ind.
6:00 p.m. ET
LIVE STATS | TWITTER

PREVIEW
After two road matches last weekend, the Pirates will remain on the road for two more this weekend at Xavier and at Butler. The Hall travel to Cincinnati for a contest with Xavier on Friday at 3:00 p.m. The Pirates will face Butler in Indianapolis the following day at 6:00 p.m.

Last weekend, the Pirates split a pair of BIG EAST Conference road matches. Seton Hall defeated Providence in Rhode Island on Friday. Sophomore Abby Thelen recorded a career-high 20 kills with only two attack errors for an impressive .529 attack percentage. Senior Danielle Schroeder had 18 kills, and the Pirates recorded a season-best .342 attack percentage as a team. On Sunday, The Hall fell in three sets at Creighton. Dominique Mason led the Pirates with 10 kills.

Xavier will host St. John's tonight and enters the contest with a record of 11-11 overall and 5-4 in BIG EAST Conference play. The Musketeers lead the Pirates by one game in the conference standings, but Seton Hall won the first meeting between the teams in four sets in Walsh Gym on Sept. 24. Abby Thelen recorded a match-high 17 kills in the win over the Musketeers. A victory at Xavier on Friday, would give The Hall a season sweep against a team it is closely fighting with for a post-season berth.

The Musketeers had won three straight matches before losing to Villanova at home on Saturday in four sets.

Butler enters the weekend with a record of 15-10 overall and the same mark as Seton Hall in the BIG EAST, 4-5. The Pirates also defeated the Bulldogs in their meeting earlier this season at Walsh Gym in five sets on Sept. 23. Sophomore Cherise Hennigan recorded a career-high 23 kills in the victory. Senior Tessa Fournier had a season-high 33 digs.

The Bulldogs won both of their home contests last weekend. Butler downed Villanova in four sets on Friday and swept Georgetown on Saturday.

SETON HALL NOTES
HALF WAY MARK
With exactly half of the BIG EAST season over, Seton Hall is 4-5 and remains in the thick of a playoff race. The top four teams in the BIG EAST final standings will qualify for the championship. Creighton (8-0) and Marquette (7-2) have begun to separate themselves from the pack, but five other schools, including Seton Hall are separated by just one game in the standings for the final two spots. Villanova, DePaul and Xavier are all 5-4, while the Pirates and Butler are 4-5. St. John's is also still looming at 3-5.

HONOR ROLL FOR THELEN
Sophomore Abby Thelen was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. The outside hitter was spectacular at Providence, recording a career-high 20 kills with only two attack errors for an impressive .529 attack percentage. She also had five digs and a block.

FOURNIER NAMED "CLASS" CANDIDATE
Senior Tessa Fournier was one of only 30 student-athletes nationwide to be named a candidate for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate volleyball. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

GOING FOR THE SWEEP
Seton Hall is just 2-5 all-time against Xavier, but defeated the Musketeers in four sets on Sept. 24 in Walsh Gym. This Friday, the Pirates will look to complete their first-ever season sweep against Xavier.

APPROACHING TOP 10
Senior Danielle Schroeder needs just 19 kills to move into Seton Hall's career top-10. Currently, she has 946 and with 19 more, she will pass former Pirate Laura Romeika for 10th place all-time.

SCHROEDER ATTACKS
Last weekend, Danielle Schroeder passed both former Pirate Kari Belin and former teammate Amanda Hansen into eighth place on Seton Hall's career attacks list. The senior currently has 2.672 career attacks.

FOURNIER PASSES MATTERS
With 25 digs against Marquette on Oct. 8, senior Tessa Fournier passed former Pirate and current assistant coach Allie Matters for second on the Seton Hall career digs list. Former teammate Alyssa Warren is the Pirates' all-time leader with 2,381.

COFFEY MOVES INTO EIGHTH
With 43 assists vs. Butler on Sept. 23, sophomore Sophia Coffey moved past former Pirate Nichole Bushroe for eighth on the all-time list. She needs 393 more to pass Beata Jastrzembski for seventh on the list.

PIRATES WIN BLUE RAIDER BASH
Seton Hall lost only one set over the three matches of the Blue Raider Bash, defeating Illinois State in four sets and sweeping both Tennessee Tech and host Middle Tennessee State. It is Seton Hall's first road tournament championship since winning the Carmichael Invitational at Rhode Island in 2012.

FOURNIER NAMED PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST
Senior Tessa Fournier was unanimously named to the 2016 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team. A three-time AVCA All-Region honoree, Fournier was named BIG EAST Libero of the Year for a second consecutive season in 2015, and led the BIG EAST in both digs (583) and digs per set (5.16).

FREE PIRATES SPORTS NETWORK
For the first time ever, all live events on the Pirates Sports Network (PSN) will be carried free of charge on SHUpirates.com. You can now see all home volleyball contests live from Walsh Gym in 2016 for free.

PRESEASON POLL
Seton Hall was picked seventh in this year's BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll. Creighton was the unanimous conference favorite, followed by Marquette and Xavier. The Pirates have outplayed their expectations in each of the last two seasons under head coach Allison Yaeger. In 2014, The Hall was picked to finish sixth, but placed second. In 2015, they were picked sixth, but finished fifth.

VOLLEYBALL ON BEDN
Seton Hall will have two regular season matches broadcast on the BIG EAST Digital Network, a Nov. 12 date at Marquette followed by a Nov. 19 home game vs. St. John's. Should the Pirates qualify for the BIG EAST Championship, the semifinal round will also be carried on BEDN.