Pirates Travel to St. John's for Key BIG EAST Match

Carnesecca Arena – Queens, N.Y.

SETON HALL (15-13, 9-6) at ST. JOHN'S (15-15, 7-8)

Date

Time

Live Video

Live Audio

Live Stats

Twitter

Saturday, Nov. 11

2:00 PM ET

None

LIVE STATS

@SHUVolley

PREVIEW
Seton Hall will play its final road game of the 2017 regular season on Saturday when it makes the short trip to Queens, N.Y. to face St. John's. Match time is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. If you can't make it to Queens, you can watch the match on ESPN3. The Hall only has one opponent this weekend.

LAST WEEKEND
Last weekend, the Pirates split a pair of BIG EAST Conference matches on the road. On Friday, Seton Hall fell at Villanova in four sets. The loss is significant since it provides the Wildcats with an important head-to-head tie-breaker. (further explanation below) Junior Abby Thelen (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) led The Hall with 12 kills and only three attack errors. Sophomore Maggie Cvelbar (Euclid, (Ohio) narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 21 assists and nine digs.

On Saturday, the Pirates returned to the win column with an exciting five-set victory at Georgetown. It was only the fourth time this season that Seton Hall won the match despite dropping the first set. Thelen again led the Pirate offense with a team-high 17 kills to go with three blocks. Senior Dominique Mason (Chicago, Ill.) had a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. Junior Sophia Coffey (Sierra Madre, Calif.) had 19 assists and nine digs. Senior Sarah Kenneweg (Poolesville, Md.) had a match-high 16 digs to go with six assists.

The victory ensures a .500 season in BIG EAST Conference play for the third time in the last four seasons. Reminder, the Pirates were predicted to finish eighth in the 10-team BIG EAST in the preseason coaches' poll.

For her efforts last week, Thelen was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll on Tuesday.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
Only the top four teams in the final BIG EAST Conference standings will advance to the BIG EAST Championship in Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 24-25. With Creighton and Marquette having separated themselves from the pack, there are realistically four others vying for the remaining two spots, Butler, Seton Hall, Villanova and St. John's.

Team	Record	Games Left	Nov. 10	Nov. 11	Nov. 17	Nov. 18
Butler	10-4	4	Providence	Creighton	at Seton Hall	at St. John's
SETON HALL	9-6	3	---	at St. John's	Butler	Xavier
Villanova	8-6	4	at DePaul	at Marquette	Creighton	Providence
St. John's	7-8	3	---	Seton Hall	Xavier	Butler

Head-to-Head Tie-breakers

1. head-to-head match results this season
2. sets won in the two matches
3. points won in the two matches

Villanova has the head-to-head tie-breaker over Seton Hall by virtue of the third tie-breaker. The tie-breakers are still up for grabs for Seton Hall against Butler and St. John's. The Pirates need to win only one set at St. John's on Saturday even if they lose the match, because they swept the Red Storm earlier this year. Conversely, the Pirates need to sweep Butler, and do so by significant point margins, on Nov. 17 in order to win the tie-breaker over the Bulldogs. Butler swept Seton Hall back on Oct. 7.

If more than two teams are tied in the final standings, the teams will be viewed in a mini-conference and their total records against each other will be factored. As soon as one team breaks the tie, the tie-breaking procedure starts over.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
Seton Hall and St. John's will meet for the 29^th time in history on Saturday, and the Pirates will be looking for the season sweep. Seton Hall has won 16 of the prior 28 meetings, including seven of the last eight matches.

On Oct. 14, Seton Hall swept St. John's at Walsh Gym. After a marathon first set, 28-26, the Pirates went on to dominate the Red Storm, recording a hitting percentage of over .300 for the match. Thelen had a match-high 15 kills, with only three attack errors, and a .444 attack percentage. Mason had a double-double with 10 kills, only two attack errors, and 11 digs. Kenneweg had a team-high 13 digs to go with four assists.

St. John's has hit their stride at the right time, and is currently playing some of its best volleyball of the season. The Red Storm have won their last three matches, including a pair of road sweeps last weekend at Villanova and at Georgetown. They are currently two games behind Seton Hall in the BIG EAST standings, and have a record of 6-6 at Carnesecca Arena this season.