The Seton Hall women’s volleyball team defeated the George Mason Patriots on the road in Fairfax, Virginia on Saturday afternoon in a four-set match for its second win in a row.
Emilee Turner and Amanda Rachwal made career-high kills with Turner with 15 and Rachwal with 13. The Pirates' offense was also dominant against the Patriots, recording a season-high attack percentage of 0.313 while Turner, Rachwal, and Julia Wilkins combined for 38 kills and only three attack errors. Maggie Cvelbar had a career-high 48 assists and 13 digs.
In the first set, George Mason had six of the first seven points, but the Pirates responded with a 6-1 run of their own. For the rest of the match, neither team had a lead larger than three points, and the Pirates won, 25-23.
Seton Hall trailed for a majority of the second set but came back with a 9-1 run and eventually were in front, leading 20-18. George Mason cut the deficit to 22-21, but the Pirates ended up finishing the set with the final three points, the last point was a kill by Haylee Gasser winning the second set 25-21. The Pirates had a match-high .395 attack percentage.
The Pirates could not keep the streak going in the third set when George Mason went on a 9-2 run to take a 16-10 lead. The Pirates scored twice to get within a four-point deficit, but the Patriots took off again on a 6-0 run to make their lead 22-12. George Mason won the third set 25-15.
In the final set of the match, Seton Hall fell behind early, trailing 14-10, but then responded with four straight points, including a kill by Wilkins tying the set at 14. The Pirates lead the rest of the set, winning 25-18.
Cvelbar's double-double is the 18th of her career, the most of any active player.
With 11 kills today, Gasser surpassed the 600-kill mark for her career and she has now reached double-figures in kills for the fifth time in the last seven matches. Freshmen also showed their ability on the court this weekend as Reece Koelher had seven kills and five blocks, and Raygan Murray had 22 digs.
The Pirates will take on their first Big East game against Marquette on Sept. 27.
Jenna Powell can be reached at jenna.powell@student.shu.edu. Find her on Twitter @jennap0well.
