Weekend Recap: Volleyball falls twice in Big East home stand 

Nick Santoriello @NickSantoriello

9/24/18

The Seton Hall volleyball team dropped both matches this past weekend to bring its record to 5-11 on the season and 0-3 in the Big East.

The first of the two matches came on Friday night in the team’s Big East home opener against Butler. Even with the homecourt advantage, the Pirates fell in three straight sets to the Butler Bulldogs.

“Our setters need to do a little better in decision making,” assistant coach Simone Asque said. “We have really good outside hitters in the two seniors of ours. So, it’s about getting a little more trust and a little more out of our freshmen on the right side.”

One of those two seniors was Caitlyn Koska who led The Hall in kills with nine. Koska, along with fellow senior Sophia Coffey, helped keep the Pirates competitive despite the final score. Coffey led the team in assists with 16.

The turning point came in the second set, when the Pirates led 21-16 following an Emilee Turner kill. However, the Bulldogs rallied back with an 10-3 scoring run to capture the second set.

“Even though the team lost it felt like they were in it. Especially in that second set, I thought they would maybe turn it around,” fan Dagen Hughes said.

Following the match, Seton Hall turned their attention to Saturday night’s matchup with the Xavier Musketeers.

“If we can push Xavier back, hit more high balls instead of fast balls, that will make them really uncomfortable. They are a team that likes to go fast, but, with speed comes more air. If we can get them off of their rhythm offensively that gives us a good chance to slow it down in transition and score,” Asque said.

The Pirates rebounded quickly, winning the first set against Xavier, 25-14. However for the third time in four matches and for the fifth time this season, Seton Hall lost the match despite winning the first set.

“It’s definitely tough,” Asque said.  “We just had one too many points where we became too predictable. It’s just getting a better job of isolating and getting one on one’s in crucial points.”

For the most part the Pirates played well with more kills and assists than the Musketeers. Senior Abby Thelen had herself a good match, putting up a match-high 19 kills with only one attacking error.

The Pirates will look to right the ship when they take on Georgetown in a midweek match-up on Wednesday.

For the rest of Seton Hall Volleyball’s schedule click here.