The Seton Hall volleyball team lost back-to-back matches to UConn this weekend, in three sets on Friday and four sets on Saturday.
In the opening set of Friday’s match, the Huskies got going right out the gate. A kill by Kennadie Jake-Turner gave her team the first point of the game. However, the Hall answered with a kill by Tsvetelina Ilieva to tie the score. From there, the Huskies went on an 11-2 run to take a nine-point advantage at 12-3. The Pirates tried to come back toward the end of the set but could not close the gap, and UConn won the set 25-15.
The second set was a back-and-forth affair, with three ties along the way and the largest lead for either team being a two-point margin for UConn. Prior to match point, the Hall was only down by one but they allowed the Huskies to score two unanswered points to win the set 25-22.
In the third and final set, UConn came out striking first again. However, the Hall was in control for most of the set, taking a five-point lead at 16-11 before letting the Huskies score five unanswered points to tie it at 16. From then on, the set was tied three other times. A kill by Jake-Turner gave UConn the lead and the Huskies never looked back. They won the set 25-23 and swept the Pirates 3-0 in the match. Perri Lucas led the team with nine kills and Raygan Murray was the team leader in digs with 12.
Toward the latter part of the first set on Saturday, The Huskies started to put their foot down. They went on a 4-0 scoring run to take a 21-14 lead which forced the Hall to call a timeout. After talking it over, a kill by Amanda Rachwal bought the Pirates within six at 21-15 but that would be as close as they got. The Huskies won the set 25-17 and took a 1-0 advantage in the match.
The Hall seized momentum in the second set, going on an early 5-2 run and keeping possession of the lead the rest of the way. The Pirates went on another 5-0 scoring run, taking a 10-point advantage as they led the Huskies 23-13. The Hall won set two 25-16 and the match was tied 1-1.
Perri Lucas opened the third set with a kill but the Huskies responded by going on a 4-0 run. They were in the driver’s seat from there, winning the third set 25-18.
During the fourth set, both teams were neck and neck and it ultimately came down until the very end. Neither team had a large run where they were able to break away. The largest lead for the Huskies was five, at which point they were ahead 20-15. The Pirates tried to come back but could not get it done. The fourth set ended with a score of 25-21 and the Huskies won the match 3-1.
Reagan Hopp and Emilee Turner led the Pirates attack on Saturday, finishing with 14 and 10 kills, respectively. The Pirates have concluded their COVID-shortened 2021 regular season at 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
Ashley Howard can be reached at ashley.howard@student.shu.edu.
