The volleyball team will go on the road this weekend for their final games of the regular season. The Pirates will face off with Pittsburgh (14-13, 5-8 Big East) on Friday and they will conclude their season at Syracuse (10-18, 2-11 Big East) on Sunday.
The Pirates have a record of 18-8 overall, and a record of 6-7 in the Big East. They are currently tied for sixth place in the conference with three other schools.
These last two conference games left on the schedule could prove to be very important for the Big East Tournament coming up on the following weekend.
The top eight teams in the conference will compete for the Big East championship at Marquette University on Nov. 16-18. The top five seeds in the tournament have been clinched which leaves three vacant positions, however there are two schools with records of 5-8 that are also in the hunt; one of which is Pittsburgh.
The Pirates hosted the Panthers just over a month ago in Walsh Gymnasium where they won 3-1 led by sophomore Shelbey Manthorpe's 12 kills, 16 digs and 34 assists: her fifth triple-double of the season. Her sister Stacey Manthorpe contributed with a double-double of her own in the victory.
Senior Alexa Campbell and sophomore Jessica Wynn recorded 14 kills apiece in the match for Pittsburgh. Sophomore Lindsey Zitzke notched a double-double for the Panthers.
"They look exactly like us," head coach Alison Yaeger said before the team's first match against Pittsburgh. "I'm thinking that it's going to be a very close game. Their hitters are very similar to our hitters. Their setter attacks just like Shelbey does. They distribute the ball a lot to a lot of different hitters and that's exactly what we do."
The Pirates defeated the Syracuse Orange in mid October by a score of 3-1 where Stacey Manthorpe also recorded a double- double with 17 kills and 12 digs.
Shelbey also had a double- double with 36 assists and 12 digs. Freshman Silvi Uattara and sophomore Emily Betteridge both had double-doubles for Syracuse.
Seton Hall started the season with 15 wins in their first 16 games, but stumbled when they reached conference play. Seven out of the eight overall losses for the Pirates have come against Big East opponents.
The Panthers are coming off of a sweep over Robert Morris on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh needs to win their final two games of the season in order to have a chance at the Big East Championship.
The Panthers will host Seton Hall at 7 p.m. on senior night. The Orange will host the Pirates at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Michael Romano can be reached at Michael.Romano1@ student.shu.edu.
