Seton Hall falls in four sets to Villanova, 3-1

Date: October 16, 2019

By: Connor Hester

The Seton Hall Pirates (7-14, 2-5) visited their rival the Villanova Wildcats (12-5, 3-3) Wednesday night as they finished up a three-game road trip. Despite strong efforts from senior Haylee Gasser and junior Amanda Rachwal the Pirates were unable to come away with a victory, falling in 4 sets (19-25, 25-20, 16-25, 13-25). Rachwal led the Pirates with 12 kills, while Gasser added 11 of her own to go along with 12 digs to record her second double-double of the season.

In the first set, the two teams battled back and forth. Trailing 10-7 in the first set the pirates were able to tie it up at 10. Following a back and forth battle, already leading 15-14 the Wildcats went on a 6-1 run to ice the set, winning 25-19.

In the second set, the two teams split the first twelve points evenly. Tied at 6-6, a Reece Koehler kill, on one of Maggie Cvelbar’s 31 assists on the night, put the Pirates on 7-2 run. Cvelbar accounted for two kills and seven assists in the second set alone, pacing the Pirates on their way to a 25-20 victory.

The third set was much of the same, off to a back and forth start. Trailing 10-9 the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run sparked by an Emma Decker kill. The Pirates were able to make it a one-point contest, but the Wildcats got 11 of the final 13 points in the set to close out the 25-16 win.

Yet again, the set got off to a back and forth start with the teams splitting the first 16 points of the set. With the score tied, 8-8, a Mallory Potts kills sparked a 10-1 run for the Wildcats, and they would never look back. A 4-2 run by the Pirates pulled them back within seven, now down 20-13, but it was too little, too late as the Wildcats claimed the final five point of the night to cap off a 25-13 win.

The Pirates return to action on Friday, October 25 at 12 p.m. when they host the DePaul Blue Devils (10-8, 2-4) in the Historic Walsh Gymnasium.

Connor Hester can be reached at connor.hester@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Volleyball, WSOU