Pirates Host Creighton, Providence This Weekend

South Orange, New Jersey
Walsh Gymnasium

No. 14 CREIGHTON (9-4, 2-0) at SETON HALL (7-8, 1-1)

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Friday, Sept. 29

7:00 PM ET

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@SHUVolley

South Orange, N.J. – Walsh Gymnasium

PROVIDENCE (13-4, 2-0) at SETON HALL (7-8, 1-1)

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Time

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Saturday, Sept. 30

7:00 PM ET

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@SHUVolley

PREVIEW
Seton Hall will return home to Walsh Gymnasium this weekend for a pair of BIG EAST Conference matches. On Friday, The Hall will host defending BIG EAST champion Creighton at 7:00 p.m. ET. That match will be carried by the BIG EAST Digital Network and shown on the Fox Sports Go app. On Saturday, the Pirates will face Providence at 7:00 p.m. The PC game will be on the Pirate Sports Network.

LAST WEEKEND
The Pirates opened the BIG EAST portion of their schedule last weekend by splitting a pair of road conference matches. On Friday, The Hall was defeated by Marquette in Milwaukee in three sets. Junior Abby Thelen (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) led the Pirates with 11 kills, while Sophia Coffey (Sierra Madre, Calif.) notched her eighth double-double of the season with 16 assists and 13 digs. The Hall bounced back on Saturday with a three-set sweep of DePaul in Chicago. Senior Dominique Mason (Chicago, Ill.) led all players with a season-high 17 kills to go with eight digs. Junior Caitlin Koska (Franklin, Wis.) had a season-high 12 kills and a team-best .391 attack percentage.

For her efforts, Mason was named to the BIG EAST Volleyball Weekly Honor Roll on Tuesday.

The Pirates' victory on Saturday is the 99^th career coaching win for head coach Allison Yaeger.

SCOUTING CREIGHTON
Seton Hall and Creighton will meet for the 11^th time in history on Friday. The Bluejays have won seven of the prior 10 meetings, including six straight.

Last season, Creighton defeated Seton Hall three times, all sweeps. On Oct. 16 in Omaha, the Pirates fell to an undefeated Bluejays in straight sets. Mason led The Hall with 10 kills, while Coffey had 19 assists and six digs. Twelve days later, the Pirates fell in Walsh Gym. Thelen led The Hall with eight kills. Seton Hall's season came to an end in the semifinals of the 2016 BIG EAST Championship in Indianapolis, Ind., when top-seeded Creighton triumphed despite nine kills from Thelen, Mason and graduate Dani Schroder. Coffey had a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs as the Pirates turned in their best effort against the Bluejays of the three meetings.

Creighton, the defending BIG EAST champion, is off to another strong start this season. The Bluejays enter the weekend ranked No. 14 in the country with a 9-4 overall record and a perfect 2-0 BIG EAST Conference mark. Creighton's losses have all come to volleyball powerhouses, Wichita State, No. 18 USC, No. 17 Purdue and No. 19 Iowa State. Among several impressive victories, the Bluejays have beaten No. 3 Washington, No. 7 Kansas and No. 13 Kentucky, losing only one set combined over those matches.

The Bluejays were the unanimous selection to repeat as BIG EAST Champions in the coaches' preseason poll.

SCOUTING PROVIDENCE
Seton Hall and Providence will meet for the 29^th time in history on Saturday. The Friars have a slim lead on the rivalry, winning 15 of the prior 28 meetings, but the Pirates have won eight of the last nine matches.

Last season, Seton Hall dominated the season series, winning home-and-home matches. On Oct. 14, in Rhode Island, the Pirates downed the Friars in four sets. Thelen erupted for a match-high 20 kills to go along with five digs. Sarah Kenneweg (Poolesville, Md.) recorded a career-high 19 digs. The Pirates swept their second meeting in only 73 minutes in Walsh Gym on Oct. 29. Thelen led all players with 16 kills. Coffey had a double-double with 36 assists and 15 digs in only three sets.

Providence enters the weekend with an impressive 13-4 overall record and a perfect 2-0 mark in BIG EAST Conference play after victories over Villanova and Georgetown last weekend. The wins snapped a four-match losing streak. Prior to the loss streak, PC opened the season with 11 straight victories, including an impressive four-set win at Boston College.

The Friars were picked to finish 10th in the 2017 preseason coaches' poll.