Matheny Erupts as Pirates Down St. Francis in Four Sets

Saturday, September 11

New York, N.Y. / Levien Gymnasium

10:00 AM

Seton Hall University

6-3,0-0Big East

St. Francis - Brooklyn

3-7,0-0NEC

St. Francis Brooklyn

Seton Hall

Matheny Erupts as Pirates Down St. Francis in Four Sets

9/11/2021 12:36:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score HOME BOX SCORE (.pdf)

The transfer registers career-highs of 16 kills and 19 digs in Seton Hall's sixth straight win.

NEW YORK – Junior Madeline Matheny (Wilmington, Del.) erupted for career-highs of 16 kills and 19 digs to lift the Seton Hall women's volleyball team to its sixth straight win, a 3-1 (25-21, 25-10, 20-25, 25-15) victory over St. Francis on Saturday morning.

Seton Hall's victory puts it in prime position to win its second straight early-season tournament with a victory over Columbia tonight. The Pirates' current six-match win streak is its longest since the 2014 season.

Matheny was a force on Saturday, leading all players with 16 kills and 19 digs. She also had two blocks and an efficient .325 attack percentage. Sophomore Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) also recorded her first double-double of the season with 14 kills and a career-high-matching 11 digs.

Sophomore Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) was a third Pirate with a double-double, recording 17 assists and 10 digs to go with three kills.

Madeline Matheny has recorded her first double-double in a Pirate uniform. She currently has 13 kills and 11 digs. The Pirates trail, however, 15-10, in the third set.#HALLin 🏐🏴‍☠️🏐 pic.twitter.com/IeIBcGP6Kf
— Seton Hall Volleyball (@SHUVolley) September 11, 2021

SET 1:
St. Francis never led in the opening set, but the Pirates never was able to comfortably pull away either. With the Pirates clinging to a 20-19 lead, The Hall scored four straight, and a kill by Reagan Hopp (Carmel, Ind.) put them in set point. After St. Francis scored two in a row, a Lucas kill gave The Hall a 25-21 first set victory. Lucas had five kills in the opening set alone.

SET 2:
Seton Hall picked up where it left off at the end of set one with a 12-4 burst to begin the second set. A service ace by freshman Faith LaMacchia (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) extended the Pirates' commanding lead to 21-9, and prompted a St. Francis timeout. The Hall's run extended to 8-2 to finish the set with a dominant 25-10 victory. Matheny finished with seven kills in the set and the Pirates, as a team, recorded a .483 attack percentage in the easy victory.

SET 3:
Seton Hall fell behind early and never could completely recover in the third set. Trailing 16-11, the Pirates scored four of the next five points, and a kill by Matheny cut their deficit to 17-15. A Lucas kill trimmed the Pirates' deficit to just one, 21-20, but the Terriers closed the set with the final four points to win, 25-20. St. Francis had a team-best .342 attack percentage in the third set.

SET 4:
The Pirates opened the fourth set hot offensively, and a service ace by Cagla Bengi (Bursa, Turkey) put them on top, 11-2. St. Francis responded with a run of their own, an 8-2 burst cut The Hall's lead to 13-10. Leading 15-12, the Pirates scored three straight, and another kill by Matheny extended its advantage to 18-12 and prompted a Terriers timeout. Up 21-15, the Pirates closed out the match with four straight points.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Matheny recorded career-highs of 16 kills and 19 digs to go with two blocks and a .325 attack percentage.
Lucas notched 14 kills and matched her career-high with 11 digs.
Jakubowski tallied 17 assists, 10 digs and three kills.
Hopp broke out with a season-high 10 kills with only two attack errors.
Bengi collected a team-high 21 assists to go with six digs and two service aces.
Graduate student Amanda Rachwal (Bethlehem, Pa.) had eight kills and a team-high six blocks.
Freshman Anna Holland (Waukesha, Wis.) totaled 17 digs and six assists.
Seton Hall recorded a .280 attack percentage for the match, while St. Francis attacked at .099.
The Pirates had 58 kills, while the Terriers recorded 40.
Seton Hall finished with 68 digs, while St. Francis had 66.
The Pirates had 8.0 total blocks, while St. Francis had 7.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall improves to 6-3 on the young season, and have now won six straight contests. St. Francis-Brooklyn drops to 3-7.
The Pirates improve to a perfect 6-0 all-time against St. Francis. Seton Hall now owns an all-time set record of 17-1 against the Terriers.
The Hall's current six-match win streak is its longest since their famed season of 2014. That year, the Pirates had two separate winning streaks of at least nine matches, including a 12-match winning streak.
Both Matheny and Lucas recorded their first double-doubles of the season. It's Matheny's first in a Pirate uniform and the third of Lucas' career.
Jakubowski 's double-double is her fourth of the year and the 11^th of her career.
Lucas has now reached double-figures in kills in seven of nine matches so far this year.
With 11 digs today, Lucas surpassed 100 for her career.
Seton Hall out-blocked St. Francis today, 8.0-to-7.0. It's the eight time in nine matches this season that Pirates have out-blocked their opponent. They're 6-2 in those matches.
The Pirates have held six straight opponents to under a .200 attack percentage for the match.
Seton Hall had a season-high 58 kills and 54 assists.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action later today when it completes play at the Big Apple Tournament against host Columbia. Match time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.