Seton Hall swept by No. 13 Marquette, 3-0, despite a lengthy second period

Date: October 26, 2019

By: Dylan Hunt

The Seton Hall Pirates volleyball team lost in straight sets Saturday night to the Marquette Golden Eagles, in a match that was exciting as any all season. The Pirates entered the night with a record of 7-16, with a Big East conference record of 2-7.

Marquette came into the night with a record of 18-3 with a conference record of 8-1. The Pirates got off to a rocky start in set one, in which they were only able to score 12 points. The Pirates lost set one to Marquette 25-12. The Pirates failed to capture a lead in the first set and along with this only tied the set once.

The match got interesting in the second set however, a set that featured a total of 22 ties and eight lead changes. The second set lasted nearly 45 minutes and was by far Seton Hall’s strongest, they had 21 kills and a kill percentage of .344. The set continued to go back and forth until Marquette ultimately won the set 42-40 on an attack error by Haylee Gasser. Despite the set loss, the Pirates’ fans were still excited and astounded as Seton Hall never gave up in their efforts.

Pirates’ head coach Allison Yaeger had this to say about the marathon second set, “I saw a lot of fight, a lot of heart and a lot of hustle.” Yaeger also added, “I always tell the girls that they create the environment that they play in, so as much as they created that second set, they also created that first and third set as well.”

In the third set, the Pirates looked fatigued, only holding the lead once with two total ties in the set. The Pirates also had their least number of kills in any set during the match in set three with eight total kills. Marquette took set three along with the win at a score of 25-12.

Yaeger had this to say about the loss, “We need to get better and be more consistent, our inconsistency this year is really tough to fight.” Yaeger also added, “If we could do that in the second set then we can do that in all sets.”

Marquette dominated most of the stats for the night, they lead Seton Hall in kills with 59-38, hit percentage with .304 to Seton Hall’s .151, as well leading 8-2 in service aces. Individually, Marquette’s star player Allie Barber finished the night with 20 kills and 20.5 total points. Seton Hall’s star of the night was Haylee Gasser, who finished the night off with 19 kills and 19 total points.

Coach Yaeger had this to say about Gasser’s performance, “Hats off to Haylee Gasser, that was the best volleyball I’ve ever seen that kid play.” Yaeger added, “She’s playing a position she’s never played before and her heart for this game is huge.”

The loss moves Seton Hall to a record of 7-17 on the season, with a Big East conference record of 2-8. The Pirates look to get a win in their next matchup on the road against Providence on Friday, November 1, at 6 p.m.

Dylan Hunt can be reached at dylan.hunt@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Volleyball