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South Orange, N.J. — The Seton Hall women's soccer team flipped the script from the first half to the second as the Pirates tallied six of their eight shots after halftime in a 0-0 draw against Delaware at Owen T. Carroll Field on Sunday afternoon.

Junior Maille McDermott (Nashua, N.H.) had an active 60 minutes off the bench, leading the Pirates with two shots and a shot on goal. Senior Grace Gordon (Chester Springs, Pa.) saved three shots by the Blue Hens and faced 11 shots. The Pirates (2-1-2) haven't allowed a goal in their last three matches.

How It Happened

Delaware, looking to avenge a loss to The Hall on their home turf last season, controlled the pace in the first half. They racked up 10 shots in the first 45 minutes compared to just two for Seton Hall. However, of those 10 shots, only one was on target.

After halftime, the Pirates produced six shots to Delaware's one and registered three corner kick opportunities. Their final corner attempt with just over three minutes to play nearly resulted in goal as junior Brina Micheels (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) drove the ball to the far post and it fell between senior Abbie Roberts (Bedfordshire, England) and sophomore Phoebe Hampson (Cheshire, England). Despite the Pirates catching the keeper being off her line, Delaware was able to clear one of the Pirates' best scoring chances of the contest.

The other strong chance came three minutes into the second half when a ball delivered from freshman Emma Sheehan (Argyle, Texas) just past midfield found McDermott outside the six-yard box. McDermott put a good strike on the ball but the keeper was able to deflect it away.

New & Notes

• The Pirates took two draws and a 2-0 win over Saint Joseph's in their last games at home.
• On a hot day that featured a water break in both halves, 20 players saw the pitch for the Pirates.
• Roberts, sophomore Natalie Tavana (Middletown, Conn.) and sophomore Chiara Pucci (Munich, Germany) played the full 90 minutes.
• Hampson posted her first career shot on goal in the 22nd minute in the first half.

Up Next

The Pirates will be on the road for their next two matches, starting with a 7 p.m. contest at Lafayette on Thursday, Sept. 8, and followed by a 1 p.m. fixture at Iona on Sunday, Sept. 11.

He has a book coming out published by Simon and Schuster


April 18, 2023

Reagan Hopp has a season-high 11 kills and Taylor Jakubowski nets a double-double in the Pirates' win.​

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Senior Reagan Hopp (Carmel, Ind.) had a season-high 11 kills and Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) tallied a double-double as the Seton Hall women's volleyball team swept Iona to claim the Seton Hall Invitational title on Saturday.

The Hall claims the tournament title as the only team that went a perfect 3-0 this weekend. It's the Pirates' second straight tournament championship after opening the season with the Temple Invitational title last weekend.

Hopp narrowly missed a double-double with a match-high 11 kills to go with nine digs and a .391 attack percentage. Sophomore Anna Holland (Waukesha, Wis.), who was named to the All-Tournament Team, also barely missed a double-double, finishing with a team-high 14 digs and nine assists.

Jakubowski did record a double-double, the first of the season for any Pirate, finishing with 13 digs and 12 assists.

SET 1:
Although the first set went down to the wire, Iona never led. With the score tied at five, The Hall went on a 7-1 run, and a kill by Hopp gave it a 12-6 advantage. A kill by Jakubowski put the Pirates in set point, 24-19, but Iona responded by staving off four straight set points to pull to within 24-23. Fortunately for the Pirates, an Iona service error gave them the final point they needed in a 25-23 victory. Neither team had an attack percentage over .100 in the opening frame.

SET 2:
The second set was the closest of the match and featured four lead changes and 13 ties. A kill by Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) put The Hall up, 21-19, but the Gaels responded with three of the next four points to tie the set at 22. With the score tied at 23, back-to-back kills by Jenna Walsh (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) won the set for the Pirates. Lucas had a monster second effort, tallying six kills and only one attack error in the second set alone.

SET 3:
The Hall led for most of the third set and grabbed a 10-6 lead on a kill by Laila Wallace (Munster, Ind.). Leading 12-10, the Pirates scored four of the next five points, and an ace by Jakubowski extended The Hall's lead to 16-11. Iona cut Seton Hall's lead to only two points, 21-19, but the Pirates scored three straight points to enter match point, 24-19. Iona staved off two match points, but a service error handed the match to The Hall.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Hopp had a match-high 11 kills, only two attack errors, a .391 attack percentage and nine digs.
• Jakubowski had a double-double with 13 digs and 12 assists.
• Holland had a team-high 14 digs to go with nine assists.
• Lucas finished with nine kills and only three attack errors.
• Freshman Asli Subasili (Tekirdag, Turkey) had team-highs of four aces and four blocks.
• Seton Hall recorded a .168 attack percentage for the match, while Iona attacked at .157.
• The Pirates had 40 kills, while Iona recorded 34.
• Both teams recorded 55 digs.
• The Pirates had 5.0 total blocks, while Iona had 9.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

• Seton Hall improves to 5-1 on the young season, while Iona suffers its first loss and drops to 5-1.
• The Pirates are 5-1 to start the year for the first time since 2014. That year, The Hall earned their only NCAA Tournament bid.
• The Hall improves to 13-0 all-time against Iona and improves its all-time set record against the Gaels to 39-1.
• The Hall improves to 3-0 in three-set matches.
• The Pirates are a perfect 5-0 when having a higher attack percentage than their opponent.
• Jakubowski's double-double is the first of the season for any Pirate. Additionally, it's the 24th of her career, which leads all active Pirates.
• With 14 digs tonight, Holland surpassed the 500-dig mark for her career.
• Members of the Seton Hall Invitational All-Tournament Team include: Holland from Seton Hall, Akron's Teagan Ochaya, Iona's Jen Soto and George Mason's Yanira Lopez-Barahona.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will play three matches at the Sacred Heart Invitational next weekend. The Pirates will face host Sacred heart on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. On Sunday, they'll face Stony Brook at 11:00 a.m. and Princeton at 2:00 p.m.

Corvallis, Ore. – The Pirates began their west coast non-conference swing on the right foot on Friday night, taking down No. 10 Oregon State, 1-0. Andrea Borg's (Sliema, Malta) found the back of the net in the 59th minute to give Seton Hall an advantage that it would not relinquish.

How it Happened
Oregon State controlled the majority of possession in the early going, and went into the locker room at halftime with a 6-1 edge in shots. The Beavers put a pair of shots on frame, as Hannes Ronnholmen (Stockholm, Sweden) punched away a shot from Ellis Spikner in the 15th minute. On the ensuing corner kick, Liam Guske (St. John's, Fla.) stood strong on the goal line in keeping another shot out.



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Seton Hall translated its momentum on the defensive side of the ball to its attacking third in the early stages of the second half. After a free kick pinballed around in the penalty area, Mattias Almeida Sundell (Sweden) nicely settled and fired the ball on frame, where Oregon State keeper Luis Castillo was forced to make the stop.

The moment for the Pirates came in the 59th minute, as Axel Berglund (Turku, Finland) played a ball forward for Borg. The pass led Borg into the penalty area, and on his second touch, blasted one past the outstretched arms of Castillo to give Seton Hall the 1-0 lead.



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The Pirates faced pressure from the Beavers late, as seven of Oregon State's nine second half shots came after the Borg goal. The most threatening shot came in the 90th minute, as off a corner kick Nicklas Lund fired a shot towards goal, but Ronnholmen reacted in time to keep the Pirate lead intact.

Inside the Numbers

• While the Pirates were outshot 15-6, the margin in shots on goal was much thinner with the Beavers holding just a 4-3 edge in that department.
• Borg is now the fifth different Pirate to find the back of the net so far this season
• Berglund's assist was the first point of his collegiate career

News & Notes

• This is Seton Hall's first win over a top-10 team in the United Soccer Coaches Poll since defeating No. 2 Georgetown to win the BIG EAST title on Apr. 17, 2021.
• The win also marks the first time the Pirates have defeated a top-10 non-conference foe on the road since winning at No. 3 Virginia in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
• The Pirates have conceded just one goal through three matches, their best start since 2005 when they allowed zero goals through the first three matches of the year.
• Seton Hall has opened with a 2-0-1 record for the third straight season.
• Andreas Lindberg is now two wins away from reaching the 200 career win mark.

Up Next
Seton Hall will spend Labor Day weekend in Oregon, as they will take on Portland on Monday night at 8:30 p.m.

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Men's golf

By Colin Rajala

Trove: As the roster looks poised to play some hard-nosed defense and get the fans juiced up over forcing turnovers and shot clock violations, the team has another solid non-conference schedule highlighted with a game visiting the defending National Champions Kansas. Other solid opponents include Iowa, Memphis as part of a holiday tournament and of course the annual Garden State Hardwood Classic versus Rutgers. While that matchup is always intriguing, I think it’s even a bit more intriguing this coming season because of the status of the rosters and need for newer players to fill substantial roles.

Gomes: To me, that is always one of the highlights of the year as New Jersey sees the two premiere programs get after it. I think it is great for New Jersey basketball as a whole and especially for the fans. I think it will be another great game with both teams being pretty different compared to last year and new guys having to assume new roles. That is what college basketball is all about, you don’t get guys for long periods of time, except for the occasional guy that sticks around for five years. Because you don’t get them for a long time, new teams must figure out ways to gel and come together. It’ll probably go right down to the wire like so many of their past games have.



Trove: It is always tough to win on the road, particularly at the RAC, so the Pirates will have their work cut out for me them. I feel like you tee’d that up for me to segue to the changing landscape of college basketball and name image and likeness, conference expansion and the no sit-out transfer rule. NIL has been in the works for a while and New Jersey hasn’t made it any easier for its schools to compete on the national level in that regard, especially when you hear that is every player’s first question on the recruiting trail. How do you view NIL in the context of recruiting and how do you see it moving forward?

Gomes: College basketball and the recruiting world is in such a state of flux and change and it's very hard to see exactly where it's headed and where it’s going. The kids, and obviously their families, are looking for the best situation they can get. Instead of going to college for free, they’re trying to make lots of money out of it and they have every right to try and do that, but it’s much easier said than done.

I think the NCAA at this point has not got a handle on what is permissible and what is not. No one has enforced anything yet as to what schools are doing, so it’s a crazy show right now. Where it goes, it’s going to lead a bit into the next topic of conference expansion. The big boys, your SEC’s, your Big 10’s, they have more resources and bigger fan bases with more millions of dollars to funnel to help their teams be successful than smaller schools and smaller fanbases do. It’s the facts of life.

Where this all heads, I don’t know, but I hope that at some point, when you look at what they’re trying to do with football, I hope the big guys don’t try and take the small guys and the non-football guys out of the NCAA tournament. I love it the way it is and so many other people love it the way it is. I love the Big East Conference; I love that its basketball-only and only cares about basketball. They’ve proved, Villanova has proved, that national championships come from that league, but I don’t know if the big guys aren't going to say why do I want to be splitting money with those guys? Let’s keep it for ourselves. Who know what is going to happen over the next 10 years because it’s changing pretty fast and it’s not going to look the same when and if it does.



Trove: I definitely have similar sentiments to you on the whole scenario. It should be concerning to the college basketball purists and supporters of the smaller schools throughout the country. When push comes to shove when the football schools are trying to do away with the basketball-only and smaller schools, I hope viewers push back and make their voices and preferences heard because without the basketball-only and smaller school aspects of the tournament, it loses its luster. It certainly won’t have the same cultural impact because not too many people are going to want to see two below .500 football school’s basketball teams competing for a chance to win a national championship.

Gomes: I’m with you 100%. I think one of the reasons the NCAA Tournament has been so successful is because of the little guys, the Cinderella’s and I would hate to see that go away. I’m hoping it won’t go away, but I’m not so sure about that. Money rules. I really think at some point, I don’t know how many years down the road, the big five football conferences are going to want their own tournament and national champion with another tournament for the other guys. It’s more TV programming and content for the networks, so who knows that they will want.

Don’t think I saw this yet on here but the mens team beat 10th ranked Oregon state last night… good win to start the season…. Hopefully last season was just a crazy fluke

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Junior Bianca Bucciarelli (Carate Brianza, Italy) recorded a season-high 12 kills to lift the Seton Hall women's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-23) victory over George Mason as part of the Seton Hall Invitational on Friday.

Bucciarelli was the offensive star for the Pirates, who improved to 3-1 on the young season. The junior had a match-high 12 kills, only three attack errors and an impressive .409 attack percentage. She also tallied four digs and two blocks.

Junior Taylor Jakubowski (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) had a team-high 14 assists to go with five digs, while libero Anna Holland (Waukesha, Wis.) led the team with eight digs.

SET 1:
Seton Hall thoroughly dominated the opening set, recording a .400 attack percentage and holding George Mason to -.250. Leading 10-8, the Pirates went on a 11-3 run, and a kill by Bucciarelli gave them a commanding 21-11 advantage. The Patriots cut their deficit to 22-13, but the Pirates closed out the first set with three straight points, including the last two on aces from Asli Subasili (Tekirdag, Turkey).

SET 2:
The second set was significantly closer, and it took an impressive rally by the Pirates to pull it out. Trailing 17-11, The Hall methodically cut into the Patriot lead. A 6-1 run, capped by a block from Subasili and Bucciarelli cut The Hall's deficit to just one, 18-17. Down 21-18, the Pirates charged ahead with five straight points. A kill by Laila Wallace (Munster, Ind.) put The Hall on top, 23-21. With the set tied at 23, a kill by Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) put the Pirates in set point, and another kill by Wallace claimed the set.

SET 3:
The final set produced four lead changes and 12 ties. Down 15-12, the Pirates scored five of the next six points, and a block by Subasili and Jenna Walsh (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) gave them a 17-16 lead. From there the set was tied six more times, including 23-23. A Patriot attack error put The Hall in match point, and a kill by Walsh won the match for the Pirates.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Bucciarelli had a match-high 12 kills, only three attack errors, four digs, two blocks and a .409 attack percentage.
• Jakubowski had a team-high 14 assists to go with five digs.
• Holland had a team-high eight digs.
• Subasili tallied five blocks, three service aces and two kills.
• Wallace notched six kills and only two attack errors.
• Seton Hall recorded a ..224 attack percentage for the match, while George Mason attacked at .023.
• The Pirates had 36 kills, while George Mason recorded 27.
• The Hall tallied 31 digs, while the Patriots recorded 26.
• The Pirates had 8.0 total blocks, while George Mason had 5.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

• Seton Hall improves to 3-1 on the young season, while George Mason drops to 1-3.
• The Pirates are now 3-1 all-time against George Mason.
• The Hall improves to 2-0 in three-set matches.
• The Pirates are a perfect 3-0 with having a higher attack percentage than their opponent.
• In the opening match of the Seton Hall Invitational, Iona rallied to defeat Akron in five sets (25-20, 21-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-11).

UP NEXT:
The 2022 Seton Hall Invitational continues tomorrow. The Pirates will face Akron at 12:30 p.m. and Iona at 7:00 p.m. All both contests will be streamed live by the Pirate Sports Network and shown on FloSports.

HAMILTON, N.Y. - The Seton Hall men's golf team will open the 2022 fall season with three rounds of golf at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial at Seven Oaks Golf Club, September 4-5.

The annual event, now in its fifth year, is played in memory of Seton Hall associate head coach Ian Lagowitz's son, Alex, who passed away in 2016. Alex was a former member of the Colgate men's golf team, which hosts this tournament.

Tournament Details:
ALEX LAGOWITZ MEMORIAL
Host: Colgate University
Location: Hamilton, N.Y.
Course: Seven Oaks Golf Club
Course Vitals: Par-72, 6,834 yards
Dates: September 3-4, 2022

THE COURSE:
Named for the ancestral home of the Colgate family, Seven Oaks Golf Club is nestled on the Colgate University Campus at the upper end of the Chenango Valley, in Hamilton, New York. In 1934, a young architect by the name of Robert Trent Jones was brought to Hamilton to begin work on designing the course as one of his first projects. Unfortunately, due to the great depression and WWII, the course and his plans were continuously postponed.

Jones was called back many times throughout the following years to redesign the course before a final version was accepted and it was not until 1956 that ground was broken on the first nine holes, officially opening on July 4th, 1958. Construction for the remainder of the course soon began and on September 4th, 1965 the last nine holes were opened for play.

Seven Oaks is characteristic of all Jones' courses, which include strategic deployment of water, along with extensive tee areas and large, expansive greens.

THE FIELD:
In addition to Seton Hall and host Colgate, the field includes 12 other schools: Binghamton, Bucknell, Canisius, Cornell, Lafayette, Lehigh, Rhode Island, Robert Morris, St. Bonaventure, and Yale. Fellow BIG EAST opponent, Villanova, is also in the field.

Pennsylvania, with former Seton Hall head coach Clay White at the helm, is also in the field of 14.

THE FORMAT:
Teams will play six golfers and count the four lowest scores per round.

THE LINEUP:
Here's the season-opening lineup for the Pirates…

1. Angus O'Brien, Sophomore
2. Wenliang Xie, Senior
3. Wanxi Sun, Junior
4. Brody Hanley, Junior
5. Jack Bosworth, Freshman
6. George Fricker, Freshman

Individual: Joshua Lee, Sophomore
Individual: David Lally, Freshman

LAST TIME AT THE LAGOWITZ MEMORIAL:
Former Pirate Gregor Tait fired a 2-over-par, 74, in the final round for a top-10 finish and the Pirates finished second at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial last fall.

Tait claimed his sixth career top-10 finish after using two birdies and an eagle on the par-5, No. 7 hole to fuel his third round. For the tournament, he shot a 1-over-par, 70-73-74-217, to tie for ninth place among 90 individual golfers. Tait finished just three strokes behind the individual champion, Colgate's Dugan McCabe.

As a team, the Pirates climbed two spots in the final standings to second place after a 2-over-par, 290, in Sunday's final round. The Hall finished with a 13-over-par, 296-291-290-877, and placed 15 strokes behind the team champion, Yale.

THE SCHEDULE:
The teams will play 36 continuous holes on Saturday, and one final round on Sunday. Both days will begin with a shotgun start at 9:00 a.m.

THE RESULTS:
Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament via Golfstat.com. Complete results of each day's events will also be available following competition at SHUpirates.com.

Who is going and can someone send signup link

South Orange, N.J. – The Seton Hall men's soccer team begins a two-match west coast swing on Friday night as they take on No. 10 Oregon State. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates played Temple to a 1-1 draw in their first road contest of the season. The Owls struck first with a goal in the 53rd minute, but Quenzi Huerman (Vannes, France) scored his first Pirate goal just three minutes later to equalize. Seton Hall held the advantage in shots, 13-5, with 10 of those 13 shots coming in the second half. Physicality was a factor in the match as well, as the two teams combined for 40 fouls.


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BE THE BEST, BEAT THE BEST
The Pirates face a tough slate of six non-conference matches to begin the 2022 season, four of which will be away from home. Of those six non-league foes, five of them finished last season with a winning record. This year, the Pirates will take on five teams who finished inside the top-25 in RPI last season (Oregon State: 2, Georgetown: 4, Providence: 14, Creighton: 17, Villanova: 23). The Pirates will also face seven teams that reached the NCAA Tournament in 2021, all of which won at least one match.

The Hall will be facing some of the top teams in the country this season. Along with preseason No. 5 Oregon State, the Pirates also have preseason No. 2 Georgetown on their conference slate. This marks the first time since 2010 that Seton Hall will face two preseason top-five teams in the United Soccer Coaches rankings in the same season.

SCOUTING OREGON STATE (14-2-4, 7-1-2 PAC 12 IN 2021)

• Oregon State has started this season at 1-0-1, beating UC Davis in last Thursday's opener before playing Utah Valley to a 0-0 draw on Monday. This will be the Beavers' third straight home match.
• The Beavers were the top overall seed in last year's NCAA Tournament, reaching the program's first ever Elite 8 before falling to eventual-champion Clemson in penalty kicks.
• Oregon State was named the preseason co-favorite in the Pac-12 alongside Washington. The Beavers won their first ever Pac-12 title last season.
• Oregon State enters the match ranked No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches Rankings, and have been ranked inside the top-10 in each of the last six polls dating back to last season.
• This will be the first all-time meeting between Seton Hall and Oregon State.

NEWS & NOTES

• This will be the Pirates' first trip to the west coast since the 2000 season, when they played Stanford and Cal at the Stanford Invitational.
• The Pirates are searching for their first win over a top-10 team in the United Soccer Coaches Poll since beating No. 2 Georgetown to win the BIG EAST title on Apr. 17, 2021.
• This marks the first time since the 2009-11 seasons that the Pirates have played top-10 non-conference opponents in consecutive seasons. Seton Hall played then-No. 10 Virginia Tech to a 3-3 draw on Sep. 6, 2021.
• The Pirates are aiming to start the year 2-0-1 for the third straight season.
• Andreas Lindberg sits just three wins away from 200 for his career.
• Liam Guske (St. John's, Fla.) is the first Pirate freshman to play all 90 minutes in each of his first two collegiate matches since Eden O'Leary in 2019.
• Luca Dahn (Kahl, Germany) has played wire-to-wire in each of his last nine matches dating back to last season, and has also done so in 35 of his 37 career matches.
• Three Pirates return to the pitch in 2022 as graduate students, as All-BIG EAST Third Team honoree Luca Dahn joins JP Marin (Briarwood, N.Y.) and Paavo Riihijarvi (Oulu, Finland). The trio combined for seven goals and 18 points during the 2021 season.
• Fellow All-BIG EAST Third Teamer Johannes Pex (Stephansposching, Germany) enters his senior season, fresh off a campaign where he led the Pirates offensively with five goals, five assists and 15 points.
• Fourteen different Pirates found the back of the next last season. Of that group, nine of them return for the 2022 season.
• This season's roster boasts 12 freshmen, the most since the 2018 team which featured the same number.
• The Pirates also welcome in a pair of transfers: junior Quenzi Huerman (Vannes, France) from Palm Beach Atlantic, and sophomore Tyler Hutchinson (Cliffside Park, N.J.) from Clemson

WATCH
The match will be available to watch live on OSUBeavers.com. A link to the live stream can be found here.

Taking an OV to SHU tmrw. Not much mention on here about it. Sounds like he’s going to stay close to home but not counting out Sha. Any insight? Seems like a solid player.

PREVIEW
The Pirates host the Seton Hall Invitational this weekend, inviting three teams, Akron, Iona and George Mason to South Orange. The Hall will face George Mason on Friday at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, it'll take on Akron at 12:30 p.m., followed by Iona at 7:00 p.m.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, September 2
Akron vs. Iona – 4:30 p.m.
George Mason at SETON HALL – 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 3
Iona vs. George Mason – 10:00 a.m.
Akron at SETON HALL – 12:30 p.m.
George Mason vs. Akron – 4:30 p.m.
Iona at SETON HALL – 7:00 p.m.

MEDIA
All three of Seton Hall's matches this weekend will be streamed live by the Pirate Sports Network and shown on FloSports. WSOU FM will also cover each of Seton Hall's contests. All six matches will be available via Live Stats. The non-Seton Hall matches will not be streamed.

LAST WEEK
Seton Hall opened the 2022 season in successful fashion last weekend, winning the Temple Invitational with victories against host Temple and Delaware. Sophomore Maddie Klungel (Napa, Calif.) was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) and Jenna Walsh (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) earned All-Tournament Team honors.

Most recently, the Pirates suffered their first loss of the new campaign, a four-set setback to Hofstra on Tuesday. Seton Hall had more kills and more digs than the Pride, but Hofstra's defense up front proved difficult for the Pirates. Hofstra had 11.0 team blocks in the contest and The Hall committed 30 attack errors.

Walsh finished with 13 kills and five digs, while Klungel continued her strong start to the season, finishing with 26 assists, seven digs and four kills.

The Hall enters this weekend with a 2-1 record.

SCOUTING AKRON
Seton Hall and Akron are meeting for the five time in history, with the Zips having won the prior four meetings. Akron swept the teams' most recent gathering at the Akron Invitational on Sept. 14, 2019.

The Zips are coming off a 10-20 season in 2021. They played one BIG EAST opponent, DePaul, and defeated them in Chicago in five sets on Sept. 10.

This year, the Zips were picked to finish sixth in the six-team MAC East Division. Akron enters this weekend with an 0-3 record, but two of those losses came in five sets. They opened the season with the Butler Invitational and were swept by Eastern Illinois. The Zips then lost in five sets to Oakland and host Butler.

Teagan Ochaya leads Akron with 2.77 kills per set. Faith Johnson is a close second with 2.62 kills per set.

SCOUTING IONA
Seton Hall has never lost to Iona in 12 all-time meetings. In fact, the Pirates own a 36-1 set record against the Gaels all-time. These teams met as recent as last year when the Pirates swept the Gaels at the Big Apple Tournament, hosted by Columbia, on Sept. 10, 2021.

Iona is coming off a 10-18 record in 2021 and saw its season end with a first-round loss to Rider in the MAAC Championship. In addition to the Pirates, the Gaels played one other BIG EAST school last year, falling to Providence in four sets on Aug. 28.

This season, Iona is picked to finish in sixth place of the 10-team MAAC, according to the Preseason Coaches' Poll. However, unlike Akron, which has started this season 0-3, the Gaels find themselves 3-0 after the first weekend. Iona hosted a tournament and defeated Providence and Holy Cross in four sets before sweeping Central Connecticut State.

After three matches, Iona leads the MAAC in most offensive categories including kills per set, hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage. Greta Stjade leads the Gaels and ranks fourth in the MAAC with 3.18 kills per set. Hope Matschner leads the MAAC with a remarkable 8.09 digs per set.

SCOUTING GEORGE MASON
Seton Hall and George Mason have only met three prior times in history with the Pirates winning two of those matchups. Most recently, The Hall defeated the Patriots in four sets at the George Mason Invitational on Sept. 21, 2019 in Fairfax, Va.

The Patriots are coming off a rough 5-21 campaign in 2021. They won just three of 16 Atlantic 10 Conference contests and finished the season with a six-match losing streak.

This season, George Mason was picked to finish 10th in the 10-team Atlantic 10. New head coach Megan Shifflett will be tasked with turning around the Patriots fortunes moving forward. So far in 2021, George Mason is 1-2 after last weekend's contests. George Mason opened the season with a four-set loss to Howard, followed by getting swept by American. They enter the weekend, however, coming off a victory, a five-set win against New Orleans on Saturday.

Olyvia Kennedy leads the Patriots with 3.17 kills per set.

UP NEXT
After the Seton Hall Invitational, the Pirates will return to the road for three matches at the Sacred Heart Invitational in Fairfield, Conn. The Hall will face host Sacred Heart on Saturday, before taking on Stony Brook and Princeton on Sunday.

Jay Gomes High on Holloway​

By Colin Rajala

................Trove: It was a really fun run, relevance means a heck of a lot when the program and fan base hadn’t seen a tournament since 2006. The Willard era really took off after the top recruiting class of Isaiah Whitehead, Khadeen Carrington, Angel Delgado, Desi Rodriguez and Ish Sanogo and I think a lot of that has to do with the relationships that Shaheen Holloway helped build and develop. Now, you have obviously had a chance to cover Shaheen since high school, how do you view his career from being a top recruit, to leading the Pirates to the Sweet 16, to securing a transcendent recruiting class and of course the recent Elite Eight run before returning to his alma mater?

Gomes: I’ve been lucky enough to cover Shaheen’s career since the summer going into his freshman year. As a player, and I've said this to many people over the years, he was probably the most dominant player I've seen in my 30 years of covering New Jersey. He dominated every game. He was just so good, so smart, so competitive. Just looking at their high school careers and their AAU careers and their summer careers, he’s up there with the likes of Kyrie Irving, Karl Anthony Towns, Dajuan Wagner or any of the other greatest players in the history of New Jersey basketball. I followed him throughout his career and I remember being at the press conference when he got hired as St. Peter's head coach and I was amazed at the progress that he made in his career. Just remembering him as a player, he was so polished and poised, but as a coach he was more polished than expected and his poise as a coach came through his personality where he grew up to be a man that's a leader of men. I was very much just really blown away by how far he had come. Now, I thought he would do a good job at St. Peter’s, most people did, but no one thought he would have the type of success he had in a few short years. It's more of a credit to him that he long believed in himself and his team but he got the guys to believe in themselves. That belief propelled them past all of the big boys and onto a run for the ages.



Trove: Knowing the list of greats to have played the sport through the years, it really means something to be in that upper echelon of names. It just points to the stature and importance he has had carrying the torch for the tri-state area and passing it on to so many guys.

Gomes: I think that will help in his recruiting a little bit. He’s been in and walked in those shoes of the young kids nowadays. He knows the pitfalls and he avoided them all as a player in college, in the pros overseas and now as a coach. He’s done everything the right way and I think he really uses that well when he's communicating with the kids. He gets kids that he sees have their head in the right place and are dedicated to the game like he was. It will help at Seton Hall.

I know it’s very early but here’s what I’m seeing.
1. Nobody’s job is safe nor should it be.
2. Guys who have been stinking up the joint no matter how much they are making may need a new team.
3. Guys catching balls and scoring TD’s. wow what a concept. I don’t care whose name is on the back of the Jersey if they can score.
4. Webb is putting Jones on notice. I know he was not playing against the first team but the guy gets rid of the ball and wants to win the game. If Jones doesn’t wake up Webb will be playing this year maybe sooner than we think.
5. Feel like we have some players ready to jump in and make some plays. Opportunity opens the door for success.
6. Most years winning preseason games is no big deal but for the current Giants need to see what winning feels like.

Cautiously optimistic right now that maybe the mindset on the team is changing.

Another swing and a miss.

Nice to see that the staff has Hubbard on campus but, I am very, very surprised the staff is having problems gaining traction with recruits.

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Check out the Netflix documentary "Untold" series on Manti Te'o "girlfriend who didn't exist". I must admit when news first broke 10 years ago I thought Manti was either complicit or a complete moron. The film does good job laying out the details and with this context and interviews with all the key parties, you really feel sorry for how much crap Manti had to take. His attitude even now is inspirational.