Box Score Tournament: Seton Hall Invitational
Score: Seton Hall 3, VCU 2 (25-21, 19-25, 26-24, 25-22, 15-7)
Location: South Orange, N.J. (Walsh Gymnasium)
Records: VCU 0-4, Seton Hall 3-1
The short story: VCU sophomores Vicky Giommarini and Jasmin Sneed combined for 29 kills and eight blocks, but Seton Hall rallied past the Rams late Friday night in South Orange, N.J.
FIRST SERVE
- Giommarini spiked 16 kills, while hitting .324. She added six digs and a block
- Sneed blasted 13 kills and hit an efficient .474 for the Rams. She also provided seven blocks to the VCU defensive effort
- Senior opposite Julia Adler supplied 10 kills and six blocks for the Black and Gold
- Additionally, senior middle blocker Tori Baldwin hit .346 with 11 kills, while junior setter Dajah Ard handed out 33 assists and served up a pair of aces
- Abby Thelen led all players with 18 kills, while hitting .289, for Seton Hall
THE DIFFERENCE
- VCU hit .289 in the match, but was unable to slow the Pirate attack. Seton Hall hit .299 in the contest, including .643 in the fifth-set tiebreaker
- Seton Hall stormed to a 4-0 advantage in the fifth, sparked by a block and a kill by Emilee Turner. VCU drew within 5-4, but Thelen helped kick off an 8-2 Seton Hall blitz when she sandwiched a pair of kills around a Haylee Gasser kill
- VCU fell behind 1-0 in the match, but hit .360 and .349 in the second and third sets, respectively, on the way to a 2-1 lead
- Seton Hall outdug VCU 69-50
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The hotly contested match took nearly two hours and 15 minutes to complete
- Four VCU players recorded double-digit kills
- Three of VCU's four losses this season have come in five sets
- Sneed moved past Jonnie Stone and into sole possession of fifth place on VCU's career blocks list Friday with 351
UP NEXT
VCU will regroup and take on Oklahoma at 1 p.m. and 14th-ranked Pitt at 4 p.m. Saturday in Day Two of the Seton Hall Invitational. Pitt defeated VCU 3-1 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
