Xavier University Athletics
Xavier University
10-14, 7-7
Seton Hall
7-21, 2-12
Volleyball Completes Reverse Sweep of Seton Hall
11.09.19 | Volleyball
Xavier improves to 4-1 in five-set matches in 2019
Next week is huge for the Musketeers, as they hold their Alumni Match on November 16 and Senior Day on November 17 in Cintas Center. Both matches will begin at 1:00 pm ET.
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 Highlights |
• Carrigan O'Reilly took over as Xavier's primary setter tonight, and she delivered with 64 assists. The total nearly doubled Xavier's previous season-high of 35, and was a new 2019 conference record.
• Jayda Carlton had a career night as well. While continuing her defensive prowess with six more blocks, she also delivered a career-high 17 kills at a .394 hitting percentage, the most by a Musketeer tonight.Â
• Other standouts included Lauren Hanlon, who had 14 kills at a .344 clip in four sets of action, and Ellie Chaffee & Kelly Franxman, who each threw down 13 kills.Â
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  Summary |
• Set One set the precedent for what would be an epic back-and-forth battle. The teams traded blows throughout the first set, countering each other's 3-0 runs with a couple of 2-0 runs or a 4-0 breakout. However, neither team could lead by more than three. After grinding it out, the score was 24-24 and there was no more room for error. Seton Hall would capitalize on their serve first, and take a tight Set One, 27-25.
• In Set Two, Seton Hall claimed the first few points before a 4-0 Xavier run swung momentum back to the Musketeers. They held on to the narrow lead until the Pirates went on a 3-0 run at 11-9 to capture the lead back, and the race was on again. At 13-13, Seton Hall put together an aggressive 5-0 run that included 2 kills and 2 aces, but Xavier quickly chipped away to even the score at 19. The teams again traded blows, but in the end, Seton Hall won the last two points to take Set Two, 26-24.
• Being down 0-2 was nothing new for Xavier, as they previously came back to beat Georgetown facing the same deficit. For Seton Hall, they held a 2-0 lead against Butler just 24 hours ago before falling in five. Would history repeat itself for both teams? Well, Xavier came out of the long break firing with three straight kills and an ace to take an early lead. Seton Hall responded promptly to tie the score at 5-5, and the fans knew it would be another entertaining set. At 12-11, the Musketeers broke away with a 4-0 run to finally take control, and despite a 3-0 counter from Seton Hall, Xavier hung on to clinch Set Three and stay alive 25-21.
• Set Four was all Xavier. A 5-0 run from the onset established the Musketeers' determination, and an incredible 9-0 run fueled by Seton Hall mistakes gave Xavier a commanding 23-12 lead. They would go on to force the decisive fifth set with ease, 25-15.
• In the traditional best-of-15 fifth set, these teams would need more. Seton Hall settled in early with three kills in the first four points to take a lead, but at 5-9 the Musketeers went on a 4-0 run to tie the score at 9-9 right after the side-switch. True to form, neither team would back down as the next 12 points were mistake-free, with each team netting six kills to tie the score at 15. After Xavier had match point once and Seton Hall held match point three times, the Pirates held an 18-17 lead with a chance to clinch victory for a fourth time. However, with one last push, Xavier won the next two points, and capitalized on their second match point with a Kelly Franxman block to complete the ultimate comeback and capture their second reverse sweep with a final set score of 20-18.
• Next week is huge for the Musketeers, as the hold their Alumni Match on November 16 and Senior Day on November 17 in Cintas Center. Both matches will begin at 1:00 pm ET.
