Thelen, Pirates Outlast Buffalo in Five Sets

Friday, September 1

South Orange, N.J.

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

3-1

Buffalo

2-2

Buffalo

Seton Hall

9/1/2017 10:50:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score HOME INFO BOX SCORE

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Junior Abby Thelen (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) recorded career-highs with 24 kills and 21 digs as the Seton Hall women's volleyball team outlasted Buffalo in five sets, 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-12) on Friday.

The victory comes on the opening night of the annual Seton Hall Classic and improves the Pirates to 3-1 on the young season.

SET 1:
Seton Hall looked dominated early in set one, scoring eight of the match's first 10 points. A bad set by Buffalo's Larra Bickelhaupt gave the Pirates their largest lead of the night at 20-10. A Bulls service error put the Pirates in set point at 24-19, but the Bulls stormed back with four straight points before a kill by Sharay Barnes (Swarthmore, Pa.) ended the set in the Pirates favor, 25-23.

SET 2:
The Bulls used their late momentum in set one to fuel them in set two. The Pirates never led as Buffalo scored the first four points of the set to establish the pace. From there, Seton Hall pulled to within one point, twice, but the Bulls pulled away late for a 25-19 victory to tie the match at one set apiece.

SET 3:
The Pirates fell behind early again in set three, but this time were able to regroup and mount a comeback. Trailing 8-7, The Hall scored five unanswered points to take a 12-8 advantage. Although the score remained close, Buffalo never pulled even again, and Seton Hall held on for a 25-23 win to take a 2-1 match lead.

SET 4:
The fourth set was the closest of the match with the teams combining for eight ties and four lead changes. Buffalo scored five of the first six points, but a kill by Dominique Mason (Chicago, Ill.) capped a 6-1 Pirate run to give them a 7-6 lead. A kill by Haylee Gasser (Mission Viejo, Calif.) extended the Pirates advantage to 17-13, but the Bulls scored five of the next six points to tie the set at 18. The score remained close until the Pirates seemingly took control when a Buffalo bad set put them in match point at 24-22. The Bulls however, finished the set with four straight points to win, 26-24, and tie the match.

SET 5:
The Pirates saved their best effort for the decisive fifth set, connecting on a match-high .348 attack percentage. With the score tied at 12, a kill by Thelen and a Buffalo attack error put The Hall again in match point. After a Bulls timeout, Mason ended the set, 15-12, and the match, 3-2, with her 15th kill of the night.

Inside the Numbers:

Mason recorded a season-high 15 kills to go with five digs.
Barnes notched a season-high 12 kills to go with five digs and four blocks.
Junior Sophia Coffey (Sierra Madre, Calif.) recorded a double-double with a season-high 33 assists to go with 11 digs.
Gasser blocked a season-high seven attacks.
Senior Sarah Kenneweg (Poolesville, Md.) had a season-high 16 digs.
Unusually, the two sets in which the Pirates offense was the least efficient, set one (.163) and set three (.205), were sets they won.
Seton Hall recorded a .259 attack percentage for the match, while Buffalo attacked at .244.
Seton Hall finished with 63 team kills, while Buffalo had 67.
The Pirates totaled 74 team digs, while Buffalo had 71.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall improves to 3-1 on the season for the first time since 2014.
Thelen has led the Pirates in kills in all four matches so far this season.
Thelen is the first Pirate to notch a 20-20 double-double since Coffey had 57 assists and 20 digs at Butler on Nov. 8, 2015.
Coffey notched her third double-double of the season and the team-leading 20^th of her career.
Seton Hall improves to 4-1 all-time against Buffalo.
The Pirates improve to 2-0 in five set matches this season.
Coffey played in her 66th consecutive match, which leads all active Pirates.
The victory is the 95^th in the coaching career of Allison Yaeger.