Thelen, Pirates Blank St. John's, 3-0

Saturday, October 14

South Orange, N.J.

7:00 PM

Seton Hall University

12-10, 6-3

St. John's

11-13, 3-6

St. John's

Seton Hall

10/14/2017 9:27:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score HOME INFO BOX SCORE

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Junior Abby Thelen (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) had a match-high 15 kills as the Seton Hall women's volleyball team ended the first half of BIG EAST Conference play with a three-set sweep of St. John's, 3-0 (28-26, 25-18, 25-18) on Saturday.

The Hall has now played every BIG EAST team and is 6-3 and in sole possession of third place in the conference at the half way mark.

SET 1:
Seton Hall got off to another slow start, and trailed for most of the first set. Trailing 17-11, the Pirates scored five straight, and a block by Dominique Mason (Chicago, Ill.) cut the Red Storm lead to one, 17-16. St. John's however, maintained a slim lead before eventually ballooning their advantage to 23-19. But The Hall charged back with five straight points, and a kill by Thelen provided its first lead of the match, and put it in set point, 24-23. The Red Storm responded with two straight points to enter set point itself, 25-24. Back-to-back Pirate blocks put The Hall back in front, 26-25. After St. John's staved off yet another set point, the Pirates finally took control with the score tied at 26. A kill by Thelen, gave Seton Hall its third set point, and the ensuing kill by Mason ended the epic set in its favor, 28-26.

SET 2:
The second set was close, until the Pirates took control late. With the score tied at 14, The Hall scored four straight, and a kill by Haylee Gasser (Mission Viejo, Calif.) put it in front, 18-14. From there, St. John's never got closer than a three-point deficit as Seton Hall won set two, 25-18. The Pirates had a match-high .378 attack percentage in the second frame.

SET 3:
The Pirates dominated the third set, leading wire-to-wire. The Hall scored the first five points of the clinching set in route to another 25-18 victory. Mason and Thelen had five kills apiece in the final set.

Inside the Numbers:

Thelen finished with 15 kills, only three attack errors and a .444 attack percentage.
Mason collected a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.
Junior Sophia Coffey (Sierra Madre, Calif.) narrowly missed a double-double with 14 assists and nine digs.
Sophomore Maggie Cvelbar (Euclid, Ohio) had 18 assists and six digs.
Junior Caitlin Koska (Franklin, Wis.) finished with seven kills and a match-high five blocks.
Senior Sarah Kenneweg (Poolesville, Md.) had a team-high 13 digs.
Seton Hall recorded a .306 attack percentage for the match, while St. John's attacked at .192.
Both Seton Hall and St. John's finished with 45 team kills.
The Pirates totaled 49 team digs, while St. John's had 44.

News & Notes:

Seton Hall improves to 12-10 overall and 6-3 in the BIG EAST.
St. John's falls to 11-13 overall and 3-6 in the BIG EAST.
Seton Hall improves to 8-0 in matches when it has a higher attack percentage than its opponent.
It's the second time this season that Seton Hall has had an attack percentage over .300.
It's the sixth time this season that Seton Hall has reach double-figures in team blocks (11.0).
Mason's double-double is her fourth of the season and the fifth of her career.
Thelen reached the 15-kill mark for the 11^th time this season and the 20^th time in her career.
Seton Hall improves to 5-7 in three-set matches this season.
Kenneweg need just 41 more digs to reach 1,000 for her career.
Coffey played in her 83^rd consecutive match, which leads all active Pirates.
The Pirates improve to 16-12 all-time against St. John's.