WSOU

Preview: Pirates Face St. John's in First Match at Newly Renovated Walsh Gymnasium

Date: September 25, 2021

By: Joe Matthews

The Seton Hall women's volleyball team celebrates during a match.

Seton Hall Athletics

If you’ve been following Seton Hall Athletics over the past year, you know that the historic Walsh Gymnasium has been undergoing some renovations for quite some time now. But now it’s finished, and Sunday, the Seton Hall volleyball team will break in the new hardwood in their 2021 home opener against St. John’s. 

The Pirates head into this Big East matchup sitting around the bottom of the conference. They stand at 8-7 on the season and dropped their first conference match of the year to UConn in a 3-0 sweep this past Friday. The Pirates will look to use the energy of a brand new and exciting gym to help themselves bounce back and get their first conference win of the year.

The Pirates can certainly bounce back to some high caliber play, as before a recent losing skid, they were among the best teams in the conference. The team tore through both the Fairfield Invitational and Big Apple Tournament, going a combined 7-0 in their tournament matches. However they’ve gone just 1-5 since, their lone win coming in a 3-0 sweep of NJIT.

As for St. John’s, they’ll also be looking to continue some great momentum. After starting off the season 1-4, the Red Storm ripped off a stretch of eight consecutive victories, catapulting them up the Big East standings. They’ve started to cool off a bit, as they’ve now dropped two straight against Western Kentucky and UConn. They’ll certainly be hungry to get back into the win column against the Pirates.

As the Pirates look to ring in the new gym with a victory, look for them to lean on graduate student and middle blocker Amanda Rachwal. As of Sept. 23, she ranks second in the Big East in both hitting percentage (35.3%), and blocks-per-set (1.39). 

It’s going to be a brand-new fresh start for Walsh Gymnasium today, and it can one be for the Pirates’ season too, as they look to find that fire they played with earlier in the season. WSOU Sports will have all the coverage you need for this Big East match. Heaven Hill and Jorie Mickens will be on call on 89.5 FM at 2 p.m.

Joe Matthews is an Assistant Sports Director for WSOU Sports and can be reached at joseph.matthews@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Game Previews, Sports, Volleyball

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