The Hall Drops Tough Battle with Villanova, 3-1

Saturday, September 28

South Orange, N.J.

5:00 PM

Seton Hall University

6-7,0-2Big East

Villanova

9-4,2-0Big East

Villanova

Seton Hall

9/28/2024 8:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Reagan Merk and Maddie Klungel collect double-doubles in the setback.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – In a relatively clean offensive match where both teams had an attack percentage over .240, the Seton Hall women's volleyball team fell to Villanova, 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-27), in Walsh Gym on Saturday.

The Pirates have now dropped their last three matches, including their first two in BIG EAST play.

Seniors Reagan Merk (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Maddie Klungel (Napa, Calif.) each collected double-doubles. Merk had a team-high 16 kills to go with 13 digs and a pair of aces. Klungel had a match-high 42 assists and a team-high 14 digs.

Offensively, both Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) and Maddy Loiselle (Lutz, Fla.) also had strong efforts. Lucas had 15 kills, while Loiselle tallied 12 kills, no attack errors and a team-best .571 attack percentage.

SET 1:
Although it was close, the Pirates never led in the opening set. Leading only 7-6, Villanova went on an 11-3 run to grab a commanding 18-9 advantage. Trailing 21-12, The Hall went on an 8-1 run to close to within 22-20. The Wildcats regrouped, however, and went on to claim the first set, 25-21. Merk collected six of her team-high 16 kills in the opening set alone.

SET 2:
With the score tied at 17 in set two, The Hall went on a 6-2 burst, and a kill by Loiselle gave it a 23-19 lead and forced a Villanova timeout. Out of the break, Villanova scored a 20^th point, but a Wildcats service error put Seton Hall in set point, and an ace by Senna Roberts-Navarro (Honolulu, Hawaii) tied the match with a 25-20 victory for The Hall.

SET 3:
Villanova had a match-high .342 attack percentage in the third set and took control late. Trailing 14-10, The Hall went on a 6-1 run, and a kill by Merk put it on top, 16-15. After the teams traded points, Villanova went on a 6-0 spurt to jump back up, 22-17. Another kill by Merk cut The Hall's deficit to 23-21 late, but the Wilds were able to score the final two points and go up 2-1 in the match.

SET 4:
The final set featured a remarkable 16 ties and seven lead changes, and The Hall had its best offensive set with an attack percentage of .300. In fact, neither team led by more than two points throughout the fourth. Down 24-22, The Hall staved off two match points to tie the score at 24. A block by Lucas and Asli Subasili (Tekirdag, Turkiye) put Seton Hall in set point, 25-24, but Villanova rallied with three straight points to close out the match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Merk had a double-double with 16 kills, 13 digs, four assists and two aces.
Klungel had a double-double with a match-high 42 assists, a team-high 14 digs and three kills.
Lucas had 15 kills and three blocks.
Loiselle notched 12 kills, no attack errors, a team-best .571 attack percentage and three blocks.
Subasili had a team-high five blocks.
Seton Hall recorded a .243 attack percentage for the match, while Villanova attacked at .259.
The Pirates had 55 kills, while Villanova had 63.
The Hall recorded 61 digs, while the Wildcats had 65.
Both teams had 8.0 team blocks.

NEWS & NOTES:

The Hall drops to 6-7 overall on the season, and 0-2 in the BIG EAST, while Villanova improves to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Seton Hall is now 18-35 all-time against the Wildcats.
Today's match marked the return of former Pirate and current Wildcat Taylor Jakubowski. The setter collected 1,797 assists and 919 digs in four years at Seton Hall.
Merk's double-double is her team-leading seventh of the season and her sixth in a row.
Klungel's double-double is her third of the season and the seventh of her career.
Seton Hall's last eight matches have all been four-set affairs (4-4).
Lucas had 15 kills tonight and now needs only 16 more kills to become the 12^th player in Seton Hall history to record 1,000 career kills.
With 11 digs today, Ackerman surpassed the 200-digs mark for her career.
Lucas reached 15 kills in a single-match today for the 11^th time in her career.
Seton Hall's .243 attack percentage today is its highest in a loss so far this season. In fact, it's the second-highest attack percentage all season.

UP NEXT:
The Pirates will return to action on Friday, October 4 when they travel to BIG EAST rival Providence. The match is scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m.