Credit: GR Productions
Mistakes Plague Pirates as they Drop Back-and-Forth Match against NJIT
Published: Saturday, September 6, 2025
by Jacob Marcial
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- The Seton Hall Pirates (2-3) continued their play in the Seton Hall Classic, as they lost to the NJIT Highlanders (3-4) Saturday afternoon at Walsh Gymnasium. After a hard-fought back-and-forth match, the Pirates lost 3 sets to 1.
The first set established what the rest of the match would look like. It was very
back-and-forth from the jump, with neither team creating too much distance with their
leads.
The Pirates jumped out to an early 8-5 lead thanks in part to strong kills by Asli
Subasili and Sadie Reich, but NJIT stayed in it and went on a run of their own to
take a 13-10 lead. The teams continued to trade points, and seemingly every time the
Pirates looked like they were going to tie the set, the Highlanders would respond
to extend their lead.
Seton Hall finally took the lead back after a bad set by Finley McAndrew for the Highlanders,
but never led again for the rest of the set after some errors put NJIT ahead. The
Highlanders finished off the first set with a kill by Aries Fontaine to win it 25-22.
The second set was a continuation of the themes in the first, with NJIT playing off
the momentum they took into the break, building an 11-7 lead aided by multiple Seton
Hall service and attack errors.
Seton Hall went on a run to cut the NJIT lead to one, and from then on, points were
traded between both teams. With a lead of 24-23, Seton Hall looked to wrap up the
set, but a service error by Gwen Adler tied it at 24 and extended the game.
However, consecutive kills by Daria Safian and Senna Roberts-Navarro clinched the
set for the Pirates and tied the match at one set apiece.
Going into the third set, it was Seton Hall who played off the momentum they had from
winning the previous set, as they led 11-5 early in the set, with 6 of those points
being scored off NJIT service and attack errors.
Errors were the story of the third set, with 25 service and attack errors in total,
including a stretch of 8 in a row before a service ace by Daria Safian gave Seton
Hall a 16-12 lead.
The Pirates built a 20-14 lead, but just as it looked like they might pull away and
take a 2-1 set lead, NJIT won 9 of the next 12 points to tie it at 23. The Pirates
again reached 24 points first, but three consecutive kills by Ema Torres, Finley McAndrew,
and Aries Fontaine completed the comeback for the Highlanders and put them up 2 sets
to 1.
Having backed the Pirates into a corner, NJIT scored the first three points of the
fourth set before the Pirates responded with four straight points of their own. Both
teams traded points until the score was tied at seven, when NJIT quickly opened up
a 14-10 lead.
Since that point, every Pirate comeback would be met with heavy resistance by the
Highlanders. After pulling within one, NJIT scored four of the next five points to
go up 18-14. A run by Seton Hall tied the game at 18, and after more back-and-forth
NJIT led 23-22.
A controversial point was won by NJIT on which the Pirates believed the ball was touched
4 times, but was upheld after a Seton Hall challenge. The Pirates scored once more,
but a kill by Ema Torres ended the set and the match, giving NJIT the 3 set to 1 victory.
Sadie Reich led Seton Hall with 17 kills, and Gwen Adler notched a double-double with
32 assists and 14 digs.
Ema Torres had 22 kills and 19 digs in her own double-double for NJIT. Finley McAndrew
also had 36 assists for the Highlanders.
The Pirates will wrap up the Seton Hall Classic when they take on Central Connecticut
State at 1:00 P.M. on Sunday, with Darren Worrell and Matt Nazario on the call.
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