WSOU

Seton Hall gives up lead in comeback win for Butler, 3-2

Date: November 8, 2019

By: Jose Balderrama

The Seton Hall Pirates fell in a hard-fought battle against the Butler Bulldogs Friday night at Walsh Gymnasium. They lost in five sets after being up two sets to zero and being unable to convert on three match point opportunities. The fifth set went in favor of Butler by the score of 15-11

The Pirates came into this game with a 7-19 overall record and a 2-10 conference record. They entered the game on a seven-game losing streak, not being able to pick up a set in either of the last three matches. The Bulldogs came into the game with an 11-14 record and an 8-5 conference record. They had won five of their last eight, but were coming off being swept by No. 10 overall Marquette last Sunday.

Looking at the stats, Seton Hall had three players in double digit kills, with Julia Wilkins earning 16, Amanda Rachwal recording 15, and Haylee Gasser adding 14. Maggie Cvelbar led the team with 31  assists, while Raygan Murray and Elizabeth Sottung both lead the team with 18 digs.

Their efforts were not enough as Shanice Horn lead the Bulldogs with 15 kills and Megan Ramseyer added 32 assists of her own. Elizabeth Labue lead all players with 24 digs in the game. The story of the game was missed opportunities by the Pirates, as they had taken a very comfortable lead to start the game and had positioned themselves to win in three straight sets.

They were up 24-21 in the third set and from that moment on, the tide shifted. The Bulldogs then went on to win 5 straight points to win the set and come out on top of the next two sets. As it often happens in sports, once the momentum shifts in one direction, it is very hard to get back in the game if you’re the other team. The Pirates took a blow and were not able to recover from it as it shows on the final score.

Coach Allison Yaeger stated that they knew this was going to be a tough match, but mentioned that the team let up, “I really wanted to put the nails in the coffin, and we had that opportunity in the third, but we just couldn’t pull it off,” Yaeger said.

A recurring topic of discussion for this team throughout the season has been the youth on the roster. Yaeger was proud of how her team fought on the court but attributed inexperience as a reason for the collapse, “We have a lot of young people on the floor, at times we had five freshmen on the court with Haylee [Gasser],” Yaeger said, “It’s a learning process and I told them at the end that we have to take the good with the bad, and we have to learn from today,” Yaeger concluded.

The Hall will look to bounce back on Saturday night as they will be taking on Xavier at Walsh Gymnasium at 8:00 p.m.

Jose Balderrama can be reached at jose.balderramaornelas@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Volleyball

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