Nelson Reaches 1,000 Digs in Pirates' Setback to Butler

Friday, October 2

South Orange, N.J.

5:00 PM

Seton Hall University

8-7,0-3Big East

Butler

9-6,3-0Big East

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Butler	25	25	25	3
Seton Hall	22	19	18	0

BOX SCORE (.pdf)

Nelson Reaches 1,000 Digs in Pirates' Setback to Butler

10/2/2026 7:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE (.pdf)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Senior Rylee Nelson (Mazeppa, Minn.) reached 1,000 digs for her career, but the Seton Hall women's volleyball team fell to Butler, 3-0 (22-25, 19-25, 18-25) in Walsh Gymnasium on Friday.

Nelson finished the night with five digs which now gives her 1,002 for her career. She becomes only the 15^th player in program history to reach the prestigious milestone.

With a limited front row due to injury and illness, Seton Hall had difficulty limiting Butler's offensive attack. The Bulldogs finished with a .383 attack percentage for the match and committed only seven errors.

Freshman Samantha Shelton (Oak Park, Ill.) had a team-high 13 kills, with only four attack errors, four digs and two blocks. Junior Alondra Villanueva (Lima, Peru) had 11 kills and six digs. Junior Gwen Adler (Barrington, Ill.) tallied a match-high 21 assists to go with a team-best seven digs.

SET 1:
Trailing 20-15, the Pirates scored five straight points, and a kill by Shelton tied the score at 20. With the score tied at 21, Butler was able to regroup and score four of the final five points to win the closest set of the match, 25-22. The Bulldogs had a .406 attack percentage in the opening frame.

SET 2:
Butler led the second set wire-to-wire. The Bulldogs again had a .406 attack percentage in the second frame and committed only one attack error. Trailing 13-7, The Hall scored four straight points, and an ace by Emilee Fuller (Louisville, Ky.) cut its deficit to 13-11. A kill by Villanueva brought Seton Hall to within three points, 21-18, but the Bulldogs closed out the set with four of the final five points. Villanueva had seven of her 11 kills in set two alone.

SET 3:
Set three featured five ties and four lead changes, but ultimately the Pirates faded late. The Hall opened the set with a 7-2 run, but Butler methodically rallied to tie the set at 12. With the set tied at 14, the Bulldogs went on a 6-1 burst to grab a commanding 20-15 advantage. Butler went on to claim the final set, 25-18 as The Hall hit a match-low .111.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Shelton had a team-high 13 kills, only four attack errors, a .281 attack percentage, four digs and two blocks.
Villanueva had 11 kills, only four attack errors, a .241 attack percentage and six digs.
Adler had a match-high 21 assists and a team-high seven digs.
Seton Hall recorded a .181 attack percentage for the match, while Butler attacked at .383.
The Pirates had 32 kills, while Butler had 43.
The Hall tallied 35 digs, while the Bulldogs had 37.
Both teams recorded 3.0 team blocks.

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall falls to 8-7 overall and 0-3 in the BIG EAST, while Butler improves to 9-6 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
The Hall drops to 7-17 all-time against the Bulldogs and has now lost four straight in the series.
The Pirates are now 3-5 in three-set matches this season.
With five digs today, Nelson becomes only the 15^th player in Seton Hall history to reach 1,000 for her career.
Seton Hall's nine service aces today are its second-most in a single-match this season and the most in BIG EAST play. Seven different players recorded an ace.

UP NEXT:
The Pirates will return to action tomorrow when they host Xavier in Walsh Gymnasium. Match time is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.