Pirates Stay Tough, but Fall To Creighton 3-0

Published: Sunday, October 27, 2024

by Nick Powell

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J - In a pivotal BIG EAST battle, the Seton Hall volleyball team (8-13, 2-8) faced off against the Bluejays of Creighton (19-2, 10-0) in what turned out to be a gritty matchup. The Pirates would have their hands full with the Bluejays, as Creighton came into South Orange as the number six ranked team in the country. Despite losing all three sets, the Pirates still put up good numbers.

Creighton came into the matchup on a dominant run, having not lost a single set in their last six straight games. In fact, the Bluejays have won 33 out of the last 35 sets they have played in. As for the Hall, the Pirates came into tonight looking to turn things around, and avoid losing three straight conference games.  

In the first set, Seton Hall played hungry; Senna Roberts-Navarro led the pack, as she was active with multiple kills and a block, staying aggressive on the frontline early. Along with Roberts-Navarro for the Pirates, Maddy Loiselle and Grace Turner were also active early in the first frame. Turner and Loiselle both had kills, and were resilient in their efforts keeping rallies alive as well.  

The Pirates played hard and forced the Bluejays to call a timeout, as Creighton were only up 14-13 at one point. However, from there on out, the opposing side took control. The Bluejays went on a 6-0 run to dominate the rest of the set, and ended up putting it away shortly after by a score of 25-14. This run by the Bluejays set the tone for the rest of the game, as set two went similarly to how the first played out.  

But the Pirates once again stood out to start, as they kept the frame close within the first 10 points with scrappy plays and more nice kills by Roberts-Navarro (She ended the night leading the Pirates in the kill count with seven). However, Seton Hall were hurting themselves with several service errors. The Pirates had a total of nine service errors throughout the game, with four in the second set alone; this proved to be a reason Creighton was able to pull away in the second set, winning it 25-13. Creighton’s Kendra Wait had the set-winning point, and later ended the night with three kills, 28 assists, and 17 digs.  

As the third set began, Creighton learned from their past mistakes and did not start out sluggish. Thanks to their service aces, they burst out to a 7-0 lead/scoring run in the blink of an eye. Ava Martin was a star for her Creighton squad, but also the star of this entire set; Martin had a game-high 13 kills to go along with a game-high 11 digs. Martin’s aggressive play led the Bluejays in the third set to capture the victory 25-11, sweeping the Pirates away.

Looking at The Hall, Perri Lucas ended the night with six kills and a block, Maddie Klungel had two kills and 20 assists, and Reagen Merk also had two kills. Additionally, Loiselle had four kills, and Turner had two blocks. Seton Hall get a chance to bounce back from this conference loss when they travel the Chicago for another BIG EAST matchup with the DePaul Blue Demons. 

Nick Powell can be reached at nick.powell@student.shu.edu. 

 

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