Fresh off their win over the Hofstra Pride on Tuesday night, the Pirates look to continue the strong play they displayed in that match over to their annual tournament, the Seton Hall Invitational.
This season, the Pirates will host NJIT, Boston College, and TCU.
Coming into the weekend, the Pirates are 5-5 with wins over Hofstra, LIU, Colgate, Liberty and American.
They are undefeated at home swith a 2-0.
Senior Meghan Matusiak leads the team in kills, while freshman setter Shelbey Manthorpe is averaging 7.7 assists per set.
Sophomore libero Alyssa Warren is 3rd in the Big East in digs per set at a 5.53 average, leading a defense that includes five players averaging over two digs per set.
The NJIT Highlanders enter the weekend at 3-7 coming off of a 3-2 loss to Fairleigh Dickinson at home.
They have a team-oriented defense, with five players averaging over two digs per set, led by senior libero Audrey Snell. Her younger sister, junior hitter Janet Snell, leads the team in kills.
"NJIT always gives us a tough match," Seton Hall head coach Kris Zeiter said. "They're smaller than we are, but for some reason they always give us a fight, so I expect nothing different this time."
Boston College enters the tournament with a record of 3-5 overall, but the Eagles have won two straight matches, over Columbia and Rhode Island.
They are led by senior outside hitter Tsvetelina Dureva, who leads the team in kills while also averaging 2.5 digs per set.
TCU, meanwhile, has won 10 straight matches to start the season 10-0, setting a new school record.
Their last two wins have come over Villanova and Baylor, and the Horned Frogs have only dropped seven sets total in their first 10 matches.
They are led by two talented senior hitters in Kristen Hester and Jordan Raines, who average 3.63 and 3.17 kills per set respectively.
Redshirt junior libero Sarah Joeckel, who averages 5.8 digs per set.
"Boston College is in the ACC, so they're definitely going to be ready to play a Big East-level team," Zeiter said. "And TCU is always very good, a top-75 RPI team. We expect three good matches this weekend, and hopefully we get some good crowds to come and watch us play."
Matusiak feels the team is prepared for this weekend tournament.
"I think we're ready. Playing teams last weekend like Tennessee and Virginia Tech, that gave us some confidence. We're doing everything right, so hopefully we can keep doing that this weekend."
Seton Hall will host NJIT on Friday beginning at 11 a.m., and face off latter that day against Boston College, at 6 p.m.
The Pirates conclude their weekend schedule with TCU on Saturday at 2 p.m.
All matches will be played on-campus at Walsh Gymnasium.
Jason Guerette can be reached at jason.guerette@student.shu.edu
