The Seton Hall volleyball team got back in the win column tonight with a straight set win over Georgetown, dispatching the Hoyas 25-13, 25-18, 25-19, a much needed rebound after a straight set loss to Creighton Saturday night.
Tonight’s win was a true team effort, with no one player dominating the scoring for the Pirates. Steady senior leader Haylee Gasser led the team with nine kills as she usually does, but surprisingly it wasn’t just a one woman show. Amanda Rachwal chipped in with eight kills, Reece Koehler added seven, and Emilee Turner recorded six starting in place of Madison Salkowski. Maggie Cvelbar dished out 26 assists in place of Grace Rosenberg.
Seton Hall set the tone early, jumping out to a 7-5 lead behind kills from Emilee Turner, Gasser, and Rachwal. The Hoyas closed the gap to 7-6 but a 7-0 Pirate run spurred by two kills from Gasser and a surreal four consecutive Georgetown attack errors effectively put the set to bed. Georgetown’s continued flaws helped the Pirates close the set out, as Seton Hall’s last five points came via Hoya errors. The Pirates took set one 25-13.
The Pirates stayed aggressive in Set two, jumping out to a 4-1 lead on consecutive kills by the big three up front: Turner, Rachwal, and Gasser. The early run allowed the Pirates some breathing room to keep the Hoyas at bay throughout the set. The Hoyas never got closer than 17-15 as the Pirates took set two easily, 25-18.
Set three saw the same formula for success that the Pirates executed in the first two frames. Sporadic kills from Gasser, Turner, Rachwal, and Reece Koehler, numerous attack errors from Georgetown, and services aces from Cvelbar and Raygan Murray. Fittingly, match point for the Pirates came on a Georgetown service error, their astounding 37th error (service, set, and attack) of the match.
Key to the victory were two timeouts called by Coach Allison Yaeger, one coming with the Hoyas within two in the second set and the other when the Hoyas closed the gap to 19-16 in set three. Both timeouts settled the Pirates down and provided the encouragement the team needed to go on set clinching runs afterward.
“Maggie was able to distribute the ball to everybody. It wasn’t like we always had to go to Haylee like we always do. We distributed well and everybody was putting the ball away,” Yaeger said, echoing the well-rounded nature of the win tonight.
On the win, Yaeger added “we need it and I always tell the girls it’s way important to get our wins at home because it’s so much tougher to get wins on the road. We always need to take care of business at home and that’s exactly what we did tonight.”
Matthew Collins can be reached at matthew.collins@student.shu.edu.
