The Seton Hall women’s volleyball team used the momentum from its season-opening victory on Friday to split a doubleheader in Norman, Okla. Saturday. The matches ended the team’s run in the Oklahoma Invitational, as it finished with a record of 2-1.
In the first game, the Pirates could not inch out the University of Colorado Buffaloes, dropping two closely contested sets and eventually the entire match by the score of 3-0. Despite being swept to begin the day, the team showed many encouraging signs.
[caption id="attachment_19336" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
Seton Hall’s best player of the match was Abby Thelen, who has picked up right where she left off last season. Thelen finished the day with 13 kills, good for the most on the Pirates and the second most overall for the match. She also led the match with 11 digs, the highest for either team.
Another bright spot against Colorado was newcomer Amanda Rachwal, who finished with four kills in seven attempts. Despite the small sample size, Rachwal was able to finish the day leading the team in kill percentage at 42.9 percent.
In the second match of the day, Seton Hall went up against Northwestern State University, who came into the match winning only one of six sets and zero of two games overall on the weekend. The Pirates ensured that this trend continued.
Seton Hall wound up sweeping the Demons in impressive fashion, improving as each set progressed. The final scores ended up at 27-25, 25-21, and 25-15, all in favor of the Pirates.
The team was able to limit Northwestern State’s attack impressively, as only 6.1 percent of attempted kills were successful. As for Seton Hall, it finished with a 17.1 percent success rate.
Seton Hall’s attack was much more balanced in the second match as well. Four players, Thelen, Haylee Gasser, Dominique Mason and Rachwal all had five or more kills. Thelen led the way with nine, proving the depth of the Pirates' onslaught.
Sophia Coffey led the way in assists for Seton Hall with 16, followed by Maggie Cvelbar with 10.
The team heads back home this upcoming weekend for the Seton Hall Classic where it will take on the University of Buffalo and Rutgers University.
Kevin Kopf can be reached at kevin.kopf@student.shu.edu.
Comments
