Pirates Fall to Butler in Three Sets

Saturday, October 23

South Orange, N.J.

6:00 PM

Seton Hall University

11-13,3-7Big East

Butler

11-11,5-4Big East

Butler

Seton Hall

10/23/2021 8:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Tsvetelina Ilieva had a team-high 10 kills and Raygan Murray had a match-high 16 digs in the loss.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Sophomore Tsvetelina Ilieva (Sofia, Bulgaria) had a team-high 10 kills, but the Seton Hall women's volleyball team fell to Butler, 3-0 (23-25, 20-25, 23-25), in Walsh Gymnasium on Saturday.

Ilieva was good and efficient on Saturday, recording 10 kills and only two attack errors. She also had two digs and two blocks. Junior Raygan Murray (Rocky River, Ohio) had a match-high 16 digs to go with two assists. Sophomore Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) also had a solid match with a team-high 15 assists to go with six digs.

SET 1:
Seton Hall started out of the gate strong, scoring six of the first eight points in set one. A bad set by Butler put the Pirates up, 11-7, but the Bulldogs bounced back with seven straight points to grab a 14-11 advantage and they never trailed again. Down 23-17, the Pirates rallied with a 6-1 run to cut their deficit to a single point, 24-23, forcing both Butler timeouts along the way. Out of their second break, however, the Bulldogs won the set on a Pirate ball handling error, 25-23.

SET 2:
A kill by Ilieva tied the second set at eight, but Butler responded with five straight points to assume control. The Pirates fought from behind for the rest of the set despite twice cutting the Bulldog lead to one. Leading 21-20, Butler scored four straight to close out the set and put the Pirates in an 0-2 match hole. The Bulldogs had a match-high .353 attack percentage in the second stanza.

SET 3:
The third set was even closer than the first with the teams recording six ties, most of them late in the set. Down 17-13, the Pirates went on a 6-2 run, and a kill by Amanda Rachwal (Bethlehem, Pa.) tied the score at 19. The Hall quickly fell behind again, but then scored two straight to tie the set at 22. Down 24-22, a kill by Ilieva staved off one match point, but after a timeout, the Bulldogs claimed their needed final point to win, 25-23.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Ilieva had a team-high 10 kills, only two attack errors, two digs and two blocks.
Murray had a match-high 16 digs and two assists.
Jakubowski notched a team-best 15 assists to go with six digs.
Sophomore Cagla Bengi (Bursa, Turkey) finished with 13 assists and seven digs.
Seton Hall recorded a .129 attack percentage for the match, while Butler attacked at .219.
The Pirates had 32 kills, while Butler recorded 43.
Seton Hall finished with 47 digs, while the Bulldogs had 50.
The Pirates had 6.0 total blocks, while Butler had 10.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall drops to 11-13 overall on the season and 3-7 in the BIG EAST, while Butler improves to 11-11 overall and 5-4 in conference play.
The Pirates fall to 6-10 all-time against Butler and split the 2021 season series with the Bulldogs.
Seton Hall drops to 7-8 this season in three-set matches.
Despite the fact that both Seton Hall and Butler earned sweeps in the season series, the Pirates will have the tie-breaker over the Bulldogs should the teams end up in a tie at the end of the season. The Pirates have scored more points in the two matches, 142-to-135, which is the third tie-breaker after head-to-head record and sets record.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action next weekend when its heads back on the road to play a pair of BIG EAST opponents. On Friday, The Hall will make the short trip to Villanova for a 4:30 p.m. match. On Saturday, the Pirates will travel to Washington, D.C. for a date at Georgetown. That one begins at 5:00 p.m.