Pirates earn commanding sweep over Georgetown

Date: October 19, 2018

By Dalton Allison

Seton Hall volleyball was able to defeat visiting conference foe Georgetown in three sets (27-25, 25-19, 25-23) for a clean sweep.

The first set was one that saw both teams scoring back and forth on each other without much resistance. Even when Georgetown went in front of the Pirates with a 15-13 lead, the Pirates were able to fight back and make the score 15-15 with a Haylee Gasser kill. Gasser was strong throughout the game, leading the team with 10 kills. Georgetown was able to again snag a lead, this time going on top of the Pirates 24-21. First year Georgetown head coach decided to take a timeout at this point, which not only changed the momentum of the set, but also the game.

“Following the timeout, we got a good timeout from coach, and we all had the mentality that we had nothing to lose,” said Caitlin Koska. “So we put it all out there.”

This mentality drove the Pirates to eventually storm back and tie the set at 24. This came from a Koska block, and it was one that truly brought the house down. Eventually, the Pirates were able to take the set 27-25, with Koska scoring the game point.

Following the exciting victory in the first set, it was evident that the momentum carried over into the second set. The Pirates opened up the set with a 3-0 lead, and never looked back. The set, which was dominated by Seton Hall, never saw a lead change or a tie. An Amanda Rachwall kill opened up a gaping 13-5 lead for the Pirates as they continued to lay the hammer down on the Hoyas. They would eventually take the second set 25-19, and open up a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Playing a large role in the match for the Pirates was Sophia Coffey, who finished with 29 assists. For head coach Allison Yeager, it was simply just a continuation of stellar play from the senior. “She has done such a great job for us the past couple of weeks, just being able to distribute the ball everywhere for us.”

The third and final set would serve as a testament as to why Georgetown sits near the top of the conference. The Hoyas would not give in, and even held a lead at certain points in the set. When the Pirates opened up a 15-12 service ace from Gasser however, they would never again relinquish the lead. They would go on to take the set 25-23, and the match 3-0.

Following the victory, the Pirates improved to 8-15 on the season, and 3-7 in conference play. They will have to have a quick turnaround for their next match, which we be against Villanova on Saturday night at 7 pm.  

Dalton Allison can be reached at dalton.allison@student.shu.edu

Posted in: Volleyball, Sports, WSOU