Shelton Dazzles, but Pirates Fall to Xavier, 3-1

Saturday, October 3

South Orange, N.J.

4:00 PM

Seton Hall University

8-8,0-4Big East

Xavier

10-5,3-1Big East

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Xavier	25	24	25	25	3
Seton Hall	18	26	15	23	1

BOX SCORE (.pdf)

10/3/2026 7:16:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE (.pdf)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Freshman Samantha Shelton (Oak Park, Ill.) tallied a career-high 18 kills, but the Seton Hall women's volleyball team fell to Xavier, 3-1 (18-25, 26-24, 15-25, 23-25), in Walsh Gymnasium on Saturday.

The Pirates simply couldn't overcome a slow start despite solid performances in sets two through four. The Hall's second set effort was one of its best of the season with 19 kills, zero attack errors and a .576 attack percentage.

Shelton led the Pirates with 18 kills to go with eight digs and a .240 attack percentage. Junior Alondra Villanueva (Lima, Peru) had 11 kills, only three attack errors and a .296 attack percentage.

Junior Gwen Adler (Barrington, Ill.) had 37 assists to go with six digs and two kills.

SET 1:
Seton Hall got off to a tough start in set one, tallying a .000 attack percentage. The Pirates scored the first point of the match, but Xavier responded with the next five and never trailed again. A kill by Shelton cut The Hall's deficit to 20-18, but the Musketeers responded with five consecutive points to close out the set.

SET 2:
Seton Hall put forth one of its best single-set offensive performances in recent memory in set two. As a team, the Pirates had 19 kills, no attack errors and a .576 attack percentage. Despite the offensive outburst, the set featured 12 ties and six lead changes. Facing set point, 24-22, a kill by Daria Safian (Moscow, Russia), followed by an ace by Shelton, tied the score at 24, and forced a Musketeers' timeout. Out of the break, back-to-back kills by Safian gave The Hall its first BIG EAST set victory of the season, 26-24.

SET 3:
The Pirates never led in the third set as Xavier pulled away late for a 25-15 victory. A kill by Villanueva cut The Hall's deficit to 13-9, but the Musketeers responded with an 11-3 run to grab a commanding 24-12 advantage and enter set point. Xavier went on to a dominant 25-15 third-set win.

SET 4:
The Hall didn't fold despite a disappointing third set and played Xavier point-for-point in the fourth set. The final frame featured 15 ties and seven lead changes with neither team grabbing a lead of greater than three points. Down 14-11, the Pirates scored three in a row, and a kill by Shelton tied the score at 14. Another kill by Shelton put The Hall up, 22-20, but Xavier bounced back with five of the final six points to pull out a 25-23 victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Shelton had a career-high 18 kills to go with eight digs and a .240 attack percentage.
Villanueva notched 11 kills, only three attack errors and a .296 attack percentage.
Adler had a team-high 37 assists with six digs and two kills.
Safian finished with nine kills and four digs.
Sophomore Mia Clyburn (Fort Mill, S.C.) had nine kills, only two attack errors, a team-best .412 attack percentage, three digs and two blocks.
Senior Rylee Nelson (Mazeppa, Minn.) had a team-high 10 digs with six assists.
Seton Hall recorded a .250 attack percentage for the match, while Xavier attacked at .321.
The Pirates had 50 kills, while Xavier had 67.
The Hall tallied 58 digs, while the Musketeers had 55.
Seton Hall had 4.0 team blocks, while Xavier had 7.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall falls to 8-8 overall and 0-4 in the BIG EAST, while Xavier improves to 10-5 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
The Hall drops to 5-19 all-time against the Musketeers and has now lost seven of the last eight matches in the series.
The Pirates are now 3-2 in four-set matches this season.
Walsh Gym saw a fourth set for the first time this season. To this point, all eight matches, including the non-Pirates matches in the Seton Hall Classic, had been sweeps.
With 37 assists today, Adler surpassed the 900-assists milestone for her career.
Adler reached at least 30 assists in a single-match for the sixth time this season and the ninth time in her career.

UP NEXT:
The Pirates will return to action on Friday, Oct. 9 when they head to Providence to take on the Friars. Match time is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.