The Hall Hosts Georgetown, Villanova This Weekend

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016
GEORGETOWN (6-19, 2-10) at
SETON HALL (12-14, 6-7)
Walsh Gymnasium – South Orange, N.J.
7:00 p.m. ET
FREE VIDEO | RADIO | LIVE STATS | TWITTER

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016
VILLANOVA (16-9, 7-5) at SETON HALL (12-14, 6-7)
Walsh Gymnasium – South Orange, N.J.
7:00 p.m. ET
FREE VIDEO | RADIO | LIVE STATS | TWITTER

PREVIEW
Seton Hall returns to action this weekend with a pair of BIG EAST Conference home matches at Walsh Gymnasium. On Friday, the Pirates will host Georgetown, and on Saturday, they'll host Villanova. Both contests are scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be shown via the Pirate Sports Network on SHUpirates.com.

Last weekend, the Pirates split a pair of BIG EAST home matches. On Friday, The Hall was swept by defending champion Creighton. On Saturday, Seton Hall bounced back with a three-set sweep of Providence. Sophomore Abby Thelen led the team with a match-high 16 kills. Sophia Coffey had 36 assists and 15 digs in the victory.

Georgetown enters the contest with Seton Hall with an overall record of 6-19 and a 2-10 mark in conference play, having lost their last six matches. The Hoyas' last victory came in four sets over Providence on Oct. 7. Their other win in conference play was a sweep at Villanova on Sept. 24. Seton Hall swept Georgetown in their prior meeting this year in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 27. Senior Danielle Schroeder recorded a match-high 14 kills, while Haylee Gasser had 10 kills and only one attack error.

Villanova enters the weekend with a record of 16-9 overall and a 7-5 mark in the BIG EAST. This is a crucial match for The Hall since the Wildcats currently possess the fourth and final playoff position and defeated Seton Hall earlier this year. Provided both teams win on Friday, a win for Seton Hall over Villanova on Saturday would pull it to within a half game of the Wildcats in the standings. Villanova swept the Pirates on Sept. 20 in the conference opener for both teams. Schroeder led The Hall with 10 kills.

The Wildcats haven't lost back-to-back matches yet this year, and in 25 matches, haven't had one go five sets. They are 6-4 on the road in 2016.

SETON HALL NOTES
PLAYOFF PICTURE
The top four teams in the final regular season standings will qualify for the BIG EAST Tournament in Indianapolis. With five or six games remaining for each team, Creighton (12-0), Marquette (10-3), Xavier (8-4) and Villanova (7-5) currently occupy those spots. However, DePaul is just a half game behind Villanova at 7-6. Seton Hall is just 1.5 games behind at 6-7, and Butler is only two games behind at 5-7.

HALL SWEEPS PROVIDENCE
Sophomore Abby Thelen registered a match-high 16 kills and Sophia Coffey had a double-double as the Pirates swept Providence on Friday. With the victory, Seton Hall completes the season sweep of the Friars and improves to 6-7 in BIG EAST play for the season.

NEARING 1,000
Senior Danielle Schroeder needs just 23 more kills to reach the 1,000 plateau for her career. She'd be only the 10th player in Seton Hall history to reach the milestone.

NEW SHU PIRATES APP
Seton Hall Athletics and SIDEARM Sports have launched the new SHU Pirates App that delivers news and content about all 14 varsity programs to fans via their smartphones. The app is available to download for FREE on both the Apple App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices.

PIRATES SWEEP BUTLER
Seton Hall completed a season sweep of Butler on Saturday with a convincing three-set victory in Indianapolis. Sophomore Abby Thelen recorded a career-high 21 kills and classmate Sophia Coffey registered her fifth double-double of the season.

THELEN NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Sophomore Abby Thelen was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Oct. 24. She matched her career-high with 20 kills to go with eight digs and three blocks at Xavier on Friday. Thelen followed that strong performance with a career-high 21 kills, in only three sets, in the victory at Butler on Saturday.

41 IN LESS THAN 48
Abby Thelen had 20 kills at Xavier on Oct. 21 and 21 kills at Butler on Oct. 22. Her 41 kills over two consecutive days are the most by a Pirate since Stacey Manthorpe had 41 on Nov. 14 (19) and Nov. 15, 2014 (22).

MOST KILLS IN A THREE-SET MATCH
Abby Thelen's career-high 21 kills at Butler on Oct. 22 are the most kills by any BIG EAST player in a single conference three-set match this season. Furthermore, it's the most kills in a three-set match for a Pirate since Katherine Whitney had 22 in a three-set loss at Manhattan on Nov. 5, 2003.

FOURNIER NOTCHES 2,000TH
With 22 digs at Butler, senior Tessa Fournier became only the second player in Seton Hall history to amass 2,000 career digs. Only Alyssa Warren has more career digs with 2,381.

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.

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.

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.