Amanda Boyer/Photography Editor
One week after its last match, the Seton Hall women’s volleyball team prepares to take on Villanova at home on Saturday, Nov. 8.
Currently the Pirates are riding a three-game winning streak, having beaten Providence, St. John’s and LIU Brooklyn.
The win streak is nothing new for this group of Pirates, who have a 12-game win streak to their credit this season that began on Sept. 13 against Saint Francis and carried all the way to October 18, when the Hall’s streak was broken by a defeat at Marquette, where the Pirates fell in four sets. A sweep at Stony Brook was long-lived as home losses to Xavier and Butler gave the Pirates their first losing streak of the year.
Now the Pirates are back on track and look to knock off a Villanova team that’s lost five of its last seven matches. The Wildcats are 5-8 in the conference play with an uphill climb ahead of them. 10-3 Marquette await the Wildcats at home on Nov. 15, and a pair of away games with Georgetown and top-seeded Creighton (11-1) wrap up the season. The 10-3 Pirates don’t offer any calm before the storm ahead for Villanova.
Senior Stacey Manthorpe was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, and sophomore Tessa Fournier was recognized as the Big East Defensive Player of the week on Monday, Nov. 3. It was the first time in program history that two Seton Hall players captured the top offensive and defensive weekly awards.
Stacey Manthorpe leads the team with 361 kills on the year while her sister, Shelbey Manthorpe, is the far-and-away assists leader with 1,016 through 30 games.
The Manthorpe’s have solidified themselves as one the conference’s deadliest duos, and they will each play enormous roles as the blue and white look to finish its strong 2014 campaign. The sisters were each named to the All-Tournament team at the Seton Hall Invitational on Sept. 5-6. Later that month, Shelbey was named Most Valuable Player at the Seton Hall Classic on Sept. 19-20.
The Pirates are tied for second in the Big East with Marquette. Both teams have a 10-3 record in the Big East. Creighton (11-1) has one loss in conference play. That came at the hands of Seton Hall earlier on Oct.10 in South Orange. The Bluejays hold a 1.5.-match lead over both Marquette and Seton Hall. The Pirates have the most combined wins with 22. Creighton has 18, while Marquette has 19.
The Pirates have a three-game home stand that begins with Villanova on Saturday and follows a meeting with Marquette and DePaul in consecutive contests on Nov. 14 and 15.
After that, just two matches remain. The first comes at Georgetown on Nov. 21 a team that has struggled this season, as is reflected in its 3-9 conference record, 9-16 combined. The final regular season match finds the Pirates in Omaha to take on the top-seeded Creighton Bluejays, a game that could feature that top spot in the Big East on the line.
Saturday’s match against the Villanova Wildcats is slated for 7 p.m. The match will be played at Walsh Gymnasium and can also be seen on television via the Big East Digital Network.
Thomas Duffy can be reached at thomas.duffy@student.shu.edu.
