Pirates Drop Season-Opener against New Mexico

Friday, August 25

Irvine, Calif. / Bren Events Center

1:00 PM

Seton Hall University

0-1,0-0Big East

New Mexico

1-0,0-0Mountain West

New Mexico

Seton Hall

Taylor Jakubowski sets the ball for a teammate during a match in 2022.

8/25/2023 3:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE - UNM (.pdf)

Taylor Jakubowski registers her 36th career double-double.

IRVING, CALIF. – Senior Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) had a double-double and freshman Senna Roberts-Navarro (Honolulu, Hi.) had a dazzling collegiate debut, but the Seton Hall women's volleyball team fell in the season opener to New Mexico, 3-0 (15-25, 25-27 13-25) at the UCI Invitational on Friday.

Jakubowski collected her team-leading 36^th career double-double with team-highs of 15 assists and 13 digs, while Roberts-Navarro led the offense with a team-high nine kills, all in the second and third sets. Roberts-Navarro had only two attack errors and a team-best .318 attack percentage.

Graduate student Madeline Matheny (Wilmington, Del.) made her triumphant return to the court after missing a year with a knee injury. She had six kills and six assists. Teammate Jenna Walsh (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) also had six kills.

Freshman Rylee Nelson (Mazeppa, Minn.) also made her collegiate debut and had 11 digs in two sets played.

SET 1:
A Walsh kill gave The Hall an early 5-3 lead, but New Mexico struck back with a 9-1 run to take a 12-6 advantage in the opening set. The Hall cut their deficit to 13-8 on a kill by Matheny, but the Lobos scored the next four points to take a commanding 17-8 lead. They went on to win the first set, 25-15, after holding the Pirates to only .020 attacking.

SET 2:
The second set was a significantly closer affair featuring 10 ties and five lead changes. Trailing 14-9, The Hall methodically rallied and a block by Maddie Klungel (Napa, Calif.) and Asli Subasili (Tekirdag, Turkey) cut its deficit to just one point, 17-16. After New Mexico extended its lead to four, Roberts-Navarro caught fire late, and collected three kills among Seton Hall's next six points to put The Hall in set point, 24-23. Ultimately however, the Pirates couldn't close out the Lobos, and fell, 27-25.

SET 3:
A New Mexico attack error cut The Hall's deficit to 8-6 in set three, but the Logos bounced back with a 7-2 run to grab a 15-8 advantage. A kill by Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) gave the Pirates their 11^th point, but the Lobos finished the match with five of the last seven points to win set three, 25-13. The Pirates had their best attack percentage of the match in the final stanza, but allowed New Mexico to fire at a .333 rate.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Jakubowski had team-highs of 15 assists and 13 digs.
Roberts-Navarro tallied a team-best nine kills, only two attack errors, a team-high .318 attack percentage and four digs.
Matheny had six kills and six digs.
Walsh had six kills and seven digs.
Nelson finished with 11 digs and four assists.
Klungel had eight assists, six digs and three blocks.
Seton Hall recorded a .083 attack percentage for the match, while New Mexico attacked at .192.
The Pirates had 34 kills, while the Lobos recorded 38.
The Hall tallied 60 digs, while New Mexico had 71.
Both teams had 5.0 blocks apiece.

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall drops to 17-20 all-time in season-openers.
This was the first-ever volleyball match between Seton Hall and New Mexico.
Shannon Thompson drops to 2-2 in her career as a head coach in season-openers.
Jakubowski's double-double is the 36^th of her career.
Nelson and Roberts-Navarro made their collegiate debuts.
New Mexico did not sub a single player. Their seven starters played every point of all three sets.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will continue play at the UCI Invitational later today when it faces San Francisco at 6:00 p.m. ET.