WSOU

Recap: Pirates Pick Up Big Road Victory at Georgetown, 3-1

Date: October 31, 2021

By: Christopher Benítez Cuartas

The Seton Hall women's volleyball team celebrates after winning a match during the 2021-22 season.

Seton Hall Athletics

On Saturday night, the Seton Hall women’s volleyball team took on the Georgetown Hoyas on the road and picked up a decisive win, with a final score being 3-1.

At the start of the match, Georgetown began with kills from Mary Grace Goyena, Brennan Wilhite, and Makana Meyer. It wouldn't take much time before attack errors began chipping way for Seton Hall to fight back.

Lucas, backed by Jakubowski and Raygan Murray, then propelled the visiting side up to an 10-8 advantage. Cagla Bengi and Jenna Walsh then brought the score to 13-9. This does not mean that it was over for Georgetown, as Wilhite and Jessica Cusi stepped up with a kill and ace apiece.

This first set was tightly contested, but Tsvetelina Ilieva took charge on offense for Seton Hall up until the end, with the Pirates winning it by a score of 25-22.

The second set saw Emma Plutnicki of Georgetown open the set with an ace, and then a Makayla Serrett kill soon after, raising the score to 2-0 in two minutes. Then, Emilee Turner, Ilieva, and Amanda Rachwal started to block, and the Pirates jumped out to a 5-3 lead.

The Hoyas began regrouping by subbing in Elisa Barbossa and Brennan Willhite, and the score then became 10-6. It was shortly after that Wilhite secured a kill, but Seton Hall’s Walsh, Rachwal and Jakubowski secured set points that brought up the score to 12-8.

Then, Wilhite and Makana Meyer made things tougher with two kills, and with some errors from Seton Hall, the score now reached 17-14. Walsh, Turner, and Ilieva eventually came to the rescue with two kills and a block, making the score 21-18 in a crucial moment. Finally, the set was won with a kill from Madison Frusha, with a final score of 25-23.

The third set started strong for the Pirates with a service ace by Anna Holland along with a kill by Ilieva. After a couple of attack errors, Seton Hall still maintained a 6-2 lead, but Wilhite and Goyena led the Hoyas’s push for a set victory.  Wilhite contributed a series of kills and assists throughout the set, and soon, the score became 20-13 Hoyas.

Ilieva gave some hope to the Pirates with three kills in set number three, but the solid four-point difference remained until a service error gave Georgetown the third set win (25-20), and the story in Washington, D.C. became even longer.

The fourth set saw Goyena retake the offense for Georgetown, but Turner, Walsh, and Holand fight right back. The score was once again 6-3, but Plutnicki and Serrett contributed key blocks for Georgetown, bringing the score back to a tight 6-6 tie.

Point after point ensued until Lucas got a key kill and Georgetown suffered a service error. At this point, Georgetown was having timeouts for every single play where they were at a disadvantage, and some costly play from Georgetown resulted in a 19-14 lead in favor of Seton Hall.

Soon, Georgetown caught up and were now trailing by one point after a block and kill by Wilhite, but the Pirates immediately responded with kills by Walsh and Turner. Wilhite and Serrett secured points of their own, as they brought back the match to a narrow two-point difference.

With the Pirates at the brink of winning the match at 24-22, the victory was sealed by a decisive kill from Turner.

The Pirates improved to 12-14 on the year while the Hoyas dropped to 5-18. Next up on the season slate is a big Friday night clash at home with the Marquette Golden Eagles on Nov. 5 starting at 6 p.m. Be sure to check out wsou.net for the recap of the match, as well as the rest of the Seton Hall volleyball action this season!

Christopher Benítez Cuartas can be reached at christopher.benitezcuartas@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, Volleyball, WSOU

Seton Hall

Seton Hall

Merchandise

wsou store