Pirates Open BIG EAST Play at Villanova, Tuesday

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
SETON HALL (6-7) at VILLANOVA (9-4)
Jake Nevin Field House – Villanova, Pa.
7:00 p.m. ET
Live Video | Live Stats | Twitter

PREVIEW
Seton Hall will return to action on Tuesday as it opens the BIG EAST Conference portion of its schedule at Villanova. Match time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Live video and live stats are available through Villanova.com.

Last weekend, Seton Hall dropped two of three matches at the Rutgers Invitational in Piscataway. The Hall was swept by Seattle in the opener on Friday before falling to Princeton in four sets that evening. The Pirates bounced back on Saturday however, rallying from two sets down to defeat host Rutgers in five sets. Senior Dani Schroeder had a match-high 17 kills. Both Sophia Coffey and Grace Forren registered double-doubles.

Villanova enters the contest after wins in two of three matches last weekend at the Big 5 Challenge. The Wildcats were swept by Temple, but bounced back to sweep Penn and defeat LaSalle in four sets on Saturday. Overall, Villanova is 9-4, and has played just one match so far at home this season. The Pirates and Wildcats have only had one common opponent thus far, Seattle. The Pirates were swept by the RedHawks on Friday. Seattle defeated Villanova in four sets on Sept. 4.

Last year, Villanova had one of its finest seasons in history. The Wildcats finished with a 25-9 overall record and made their second NCAA tournament appearance.

SETON HALL RALLIES PAST RUTGERS
The Pirates rallied from two sets down to defeat Rutgers in Piscataway in the finale of the Rutgers Invitational on Saturday. Four Pirates reached double figures in kills, led by 17 from Dani Schroeder. Sophia Coffey had a season-high 46 assists. Collectively, the Pirates had a season-high .329 attack percentage.

DOUBLE... DOUBLE-DOUBLE
For the first time this season, two Pirates collected double-doubles in Seton Hall's five-set victory at Rutgers. Sophomore Sophia Coffey had a season-high 46 assists to go with 13 digs. She also had seven kills and no attack errors. Grace Forren registered 11 kills and career-highs of 14 digs and five blocks.

QUEEN KOSKA
Sophomore Caitlin Koska recorded a career-high 15 kills to go along with eight digs vs. Princeton on Friday. She also had seven kills and only one attack error vs. Seattle earlier in the day.

SETON HALL FALLS AT HOFSTRA IN FIVE
The Pirates saw their five-match win streak come to an end in a hard-fought five-set loss at Hofstra on Tuesday. The teams combined for 38 ties and 18 lead changes during the match. Four Pirates recorded at least 12 kills, with Dani Schroeder leading the way with 13.

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.

CLIMBING THE LIST
During the Seton Hall Classic, Sophia Coffey passed Nicole Harguindeguy into ninth on Seton Hall's career assists list. She needs just 34 more to pass Nichole Bushroe for eighth on the all-time list.

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 12 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.

FOURNIER APPROACHING SECOND
Senior Tessa Fournier needs 138 digs to pass current assistant coach Allie Matters for second on Seton Hall's career digs list. Former teammate Alyssa Warren is the Pirates' all-time leader with 2,381.

AVCA TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD
Seton Hall was one of six BIG EAST volleyball programs that received a 2016 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Team Academic Award. The award honors collegiate and high school volleyball teams that displayed excellence in the classroom during the school year by maintaining at least a 3.30 cumulative team grade-point average.