Pirates Upend Xavier for Dominant Straight Sets Win

Friday, October 22

South Orange, N.J.

6:00 PM

Seton Hall University

11-12,3-6Big East

Xavier

10-10,5-4Big East

Xavier

Seton Hall

Pirates Upend Xavier for Dominant Straight Sets Win

10/22/2021 8:53:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Seton Hall committed a season-low six attack errors and avenge a loss at Xavier two weeks ago.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Senior Emilee Turner (Kaysville, Utah) and sophomore Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) combined for 19 kills and only two attack errors as the Seton Hall women's volleyball team swept Xavier, 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-13), on Friday.

The victory was particularly satisfying for The Hall given their five-set loss to Xavier in Cincinnati just two weeks ago, with all three of their set losses coming by two points.

Turner finished with a team-best 10 kills, with only one attack error, a team-best .600 attack percentage and four blocks. Lucas had nine kills, only one attack error and a .400 attack percentage.

In fact, The Hall as a whole only committed six attack errors for the match, a season-low, and had a season-best in BIG EAST play .404 attack percentage.

SET 1:
Seton Hall took control of the match from the start, opening the first set with six of the first eight points. From there, the set was played relatively even, but Xavier wasn't able to cut their deficit to less than two points. Leading 18-16, The Hall scored four of the next five points to grab a 22-17 advantage. A kill by Tsvetelina Ilieva (Sofia, Bulgaria) put Seton Hall in set point, and two points later, a kill by Madison Frusha (Huntsville, Texas) won it.

SET 2:
The Pirates dominated set two, leading wire-to-wire. The Hall had 17 kills, only two attack errors and a .417 attack percentage in the second stanza. Seton Hall scored nine of the first 11 points to immediately set the tone. After the Musketeers cut The Hall's lead to 10-4, the Pirates took off on a 6-1 run, and a block by Ilieva and Amanda Rachwal (Bethlehem, Pa.) gave them a commanding 16-5 advantage. The Pirate lead grew to as many as 15 points before they ultimately won, 25-11.

SET 3:
The third set saw little change in the Pirates' intensity. Already leading 13-9, The Hall went on a 6-2 run to take a 19-11 advantage. After Xavier scored back-to-back points to pull to within 19-13, the Pirates scored the last six points of the match consecutively. Up 23-19, back-to-back kills by Turner handed the match to the Pirates in sweeping fashion. The Hall had a match-best .419 attack percentage in set three, which included just one attack error.

🎥🎥 HIGHLIGHTS 🎥🎥
Check out some of the best plays of Seton Hall's big victory over Xavier on Friday!! #HALLin 🏐🏴‍☠️🏐 pic.twitter.com/Qw9tslhsjV
— Seton Hall Volleyball (@SHUVolley) October 23, 2021

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Turner had a team-high 10 kills, only one attack error, and a .600 attack percentage. She also had four blocks.
Lucas had nine kills, only one attack error and a .444 attack percentage.
Ilieva finished with seven kills.
Frusha had six kills, no attack errors, a .545 attack percentage and three blocks.
Rachwal had six kills, only one attack error, a .625 attack percentage and four blocks.
Junior Madeline Matheny (Wilmington, Del.) had six kills, only one attack error and eight digs.
Junior Raygan Murray (Rocky River, Ohio) had a match-high 16 digs to go with six assists.
Sophomore Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) tallied a team-best 16 assists and eight digs.
Seton Hall recorded a .404 attack percentage for the match, while Xavier attacked at .149.
The Pirates had 46 kills, while Xavier recorded 32.
Seton Hall finished with 45 digs, while the Musketeers had 38.
The Pirates had 8.0 total blocks, while Xavier had 2.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall improves to 11-12 overall on the season and 3-6 in the BIG EAST, while Xavier falls to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
The Pirates improve to 4-12 all-time against Xavier and earn a split of the 2021 season series. They snap a six-match losing streak to the Musketeers.
Seton Hall improves to 7-7 this season in three-set matches.
With four blocks tonight, Rachwal surpassed former Pirate Kari Belin into 10^th place on Seton Hall's all-time career list.
With six kills tonight, Rachwal reached the 600-kills milestone for her career.
With 16 assists tonight, Jakubowski surpassed the 700-assists milestone for her career.
The Pirates improve to 11-1 when winning the first set this season. They're also 11-1 when having a higher attack percentage than their opponent.
Seton Hall's six attack errors were a season-low and their .404 attack percentage was the highest they've had in BIG EAST matches this season.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 23 for a BIG EAST Conference contest against Butler in Walsh Gymnasium. Match time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. All spectators in attendance must wear a mask, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated while in any indoor location at Seton Hall University.