Impressive Pirates Sweep Illinois State in Opener, 3-0

Friday, August 28

South Orange, N.J.

3:00 PM

Seton Hall University

1-0,0-0Big East

Illinois State

0-1,0-0MVC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Illinois St.	18	19	23	0
Seton Hall	25	25	25	3

Members of the Seton Hall volleyball team celebrate after a point against Illinois State on Aug. 28.

Impressive Pirates Sweep Illinois State in Opener, 3-0

8/28/2026 6:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE (.pdf)

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall women's volleyball team committed only six attack errors and had an impressive .386 attack percentage in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-23) sweep of Illinois State to open the 2026 season on Friday.

After The Hall took a 16-15 lead in the first set it never trailed again for the remainder of the match.

Sophomore Daria Safian (Moscow, Russia) led The Hall with 10 kills, just one attack error and a .500 attack percentage. Samantha Shelton (Oak Park, Ill.) had eight kills, only two attack errors and six digs in her collegiate debut. Loukia Papadakos (Stoufville, Ontario) and Alondra Villanueva (Lima, Peru) each had six kills apiece.

Senior Rylee Nelson (Mazeppa, Minn.) had a team-high 10 digs to go with six assists.

SET 1:
The score was tied five times in the opening set until Seton Hall took control late. With the score tied at 15, the Pirates went on a 6-1 run, and a kill by Papadakos gave them a 21-16 advantage. The Hall went on to win, 25-18, thanks largely to Safian and Shelton who combined for seven kills in the opening stanza.

SET 2:
Seton Hall led the second set wire-to-wire. The Hall scored four of the first five points and never looked back. A kill by Mia Clyburn (Fort Mill, S.C.) extended the Pirates' lead to 18-11 and their lead was never fewer than five points the rest of the set. Seton Hall had a remarkable .429 attack percentage in the second set, connecting on 14 kills with only two attack errors in a 25-19 victory.

SET 3:
The Hall scored the first four points of the third set and again never trailed. A block by Shelton and Clyburn gave The Hall a 12-3 lead and forced an early Illinois State timeout. A kill by Gwen Adler (Barrington, Ill.) extended the Pirates' lead to 19-11, but the Redbirds went on a 9-3 run to cut their deficit to 22-20. The Pirates entered match point with an Adler ace, 24-20, but three straight Illinois State points cut The Hall's lead to one and forced a timeout. Out of the break, Safian's 10^th kill of the night secured a 25-23 victory for the Pirates.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Safian had a team-high 10 kills with only one attack error and a .500 attack percentage.
Shelton had eight kills, only two attack errors, a .316 attack percentage, six digs and two blocks.
Papadakos had a career-high six kills, no attack errors, an .857 attack percentage and a team-best three blocks.
Villanueva tallied six kills and five digs.
Nelson had a match-high 10 digs to go with six assists.
Adler tallied a match-high 18 assists to go with three digs.
Seton Hall recorded a .386 attack percentage for the match, while Illinois State attacked at .177.
The Pirates had 40 kills, while ISU had 37.
Both teams had 33 digs.
Seton Hall collected 5.0 blocks and Illinois State had 2.0.

Mia Clyburn slams home the kill in set three!! Pirates are looking for the 🧹🧹🧹!!!#HALLin 🏐🏴‍☠️🔵⚪ pic.twitter.com/TKkQJNG6O4
— Seton Hall Volleyball (@SHUVolley) August 28, 2026

NEWS & NOTES:

Seton Hall improves to 20-21 all-time in season-openers.
The Pirates improve to a perfect 3-0 all-time against Illinois State.
Shannon Thompson improves to 4-3 in her career as a head coach in season-openers.
Seton Hall's .386 attack percentage for the game is its highest since shooting .429 against NJIT on Sept. 17, 2022.
Three Seton Hall players made their collegiate debut: Shelton, Kennedy Cummins (Elkridge, Md) and Rylee Wooldridge (Mars, Pa.)
During pregame it was announced that Illinois State head coach Allie Matters, who was an All-BIG EAST volleyball player at Seton Hall and a long-time assistant coach, will be inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame for the class of 2027.

UP NEXT:
The Pirates will continue play at its own Seton Hall Classic tomorrow when it faces local rival FDU at 3:00 p.m. The match will be streamed live on YouTube.