Pirates Rally to Outlast Villanova in Five Sets

Saturday, March 20

Villanova, Pa. / Jake Nevin Field House

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

4-5, 2-4BIG EAST

Villanova

4-3, 3-2BIG EAST

Seton Hall

Villanova

3/20/2021 9:51:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

VILLANOVA, PA. – For a second straight night, the Seton Hall women's volleyball team tied Villanova 2-2 through four sets, only tonight, the Pirates outlasted Villanova in the fifth set for its second BIG EAST victory of the year, 3-2, (13-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-23, 15-8), on Saturday.

The Pirates and Wildcats played 10 grueling sets this weekend with each team winning a match. Whereas Villanova and Seton Hall traded sets on Friday, the Pirates needed to win the final two sets on Saturday to pull off the come-from-behind victory.

Both Tsvetelina Ilieva (Sofia, Bulgaria) and Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) recorded double-doubles. Ilieva had a team-best 12 kills to go with 11 digs, four assists and two service aces. Jakubowski had 18 assists and 17 digs.

SET 1:
With the first set tied at five, Villanova scored six straight to take an 11-5 advantage. A kill by Amanda Rachwal (Bethlehem, Pa.) cut The Hall's deficit to 16-11, but the Wildcats responded with a 9-2 run to close out the opening set, 25-13. Seton Hall attacked at only a .033 clip in the opener, compared to .314 for Villanova.

SET 2:
Seton Hall started the second set on fire offensively. Trailing 3-2 early, the Pirates went on an 8-1 run, and a kill by Ilieva gave them a 10-4 advantage. Down 12-6, Villanova scored three straight to cut their deficit in half, but The Hall responded with three straight of its own, and a block by Rachwal and Emilee Turner (Kaysville, Utah) boosted its lead back to 15-9 and forced a Wildcats timeout. Back-to-back aces by Raygan Murray (Rocky River, Ohio) gave the Pirates a 23-17 lead. Villanova scored two straight, but The Hall closed out the set, 25-19.

SET 3:
Trailing 5-4 in set three, Villanova went on a 7-1 run to take an 11-6 lead. A kill by Julia Wilkins (Mason, Ohio) cut The Hall's deficit to 12-10, but the Wildcats responded with six straight points to take a commanding 18-10 advantage. Down 22-13, the Pirates scored back-to-back points on kills from Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) and Madison Frusha (Huntsville, Texas) and forced a Villanova timeout. The Wildcats were able to hold on, however, for a 25-17 set three win.

SET 4:
Villanova scored 11 of the first 15 points in the fourth set, resulting in the Pirates burning both of their timeouts early. Down 12-5, The Hall went on an 10-0 run, burning both of Villanova's timeouts, and a kill by Lucas put the Pirates on top, 15-12. Twice, the Wildcats cut the Pirates' lead to just one point, including 24-23, but a kill by Lucas ended the set in The Hall's favor.

SET 5:
Seton Hall scored the first three points of the fifth set, but Villanova scored three of the next four to cut The Hall's lead to one. The Pirates then scored four of the next five to take a commanding 8-4 advantage. The Wildcats cut their deficit to 8-6, but then The Hall scored four straight, and a kill by Rachwal gave Seton Hall a commanding 12-6 advantage. The Pirates held on to win set five, 15-8, and complete the comeback.

Inside the Numbers:

Ilieva had a double-double with a team-high 12 kills to go with 11 digs, four assists and two service aces.
Jakubowski had a double-double with 18 assists and 17 digs.
Lucas had 11 kills and eight digs.
Turner finished with 10 kills and six blocks.
Murray had a team-best 22 digs to go with four assists and three service aces.
Seton Hall recorded a .167 attack percentage for the match, while Villanova attacked at .204.
The Pirates had 49 kills, while the Wildcats recorded 61.
The Hall finished with 68 digs, while Villanova tallied 62.
The Pirates had 9.0 team blocks, while Villanova had 13.5.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall improves to 4-5 overall on the season and 2-4 in the BIG EAST, while Villanova drops to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The Pirates improve to 17-31 all-time against the Wildcats and snap a six-matches losing streak in the series.
Seton Hall improves to 2-2 in five-set matches this season.
Jakubowski has now recorded a double-double in six of her first nine collegiate matches.
Murray reached the 20 digs mark in a match for the third time this season and the sixth time of her career.
Ilieva's double-double is the third of her young career.

Up Next:
Seton Hall will return to action next weekend to complete the 2021 regular season with a pair of matches at Connecticut on Friday and Saturday. Match time on both days is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET.