Pirates Host Seton Hall Invitational This Weekend - Seton Hall University Athletics
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 Mas...
| SETON HALL INVITATIONAL SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Walsh Gymnasium
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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.
