Seton Hall Tops DePaul
9/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
CHICAGO -- DePaul freshman middle blocker Kate Letcher set a new school record with an .833 attack percentage in the Blue Demons 3-0 (30-27, 31-29, 30-24) BIG EAST Conference loss to Seton Hall Sunday at McGrath Arena. The Blue Demons have lost their last nine matches and fall to 4-13 and 0-4 in league play. The Pirates snap their three match loosing streak and improve to 10-7 and 1-3 in conference play.
Letcher tallied 10 kills on 12 swings with no attack errors to break Dana Kalvatis' 22-year-old record. Kalvatis set the previous record of .818 against Cleveland State on November 9, 1985. Letcher led a trio of Blue Demon freshmen in double-figures with outside hitter Charla Drabant leading the squad with 12 kills and middle blocker Jacie Fiedler finished with 10. Freshman setter Christy Landschoot dished out 32 assists.
The Pirates used a balanced attack to win the match as two-players finished with double-doubles. Allie Matters paced all players with 16 kills and tallied 12 digs while Sarah Osmun followed with 15 kills and 15 digs. Seton Hall swung well all match as the team posted a .311 attack percentage on 58 kills.
The Pirates quickly took a 19-11 advantage in game one, but their offense stalled as the Blue Demons went on a 7-0 run to pull within one on a Fiedler service ace. DePaul would not get any closer than a single point as Seton Hall found an answer for each Blue Demon push and won the first set 30-27.
Game two was the closest as the score was knotted 10 times and there were five lead changes. Seton Hall took a 14-8 advantage; but the Blue Demons would use a 8-1 run and take 16-15 lead on a Pirate attack error. DePaul built a 26-23 lead, but Seton Hall terminated the ball well in the final points and tied the game at 28 on a kill by Matters. Matters would register two additional kills in the final points to secure Seton Hall's 31-29 win.
After battling through some early ties in game three, Seton Hall took the lead for good at 7-6 on a Blue Demon hitting error. Osmun led the Pirate attack with five kills.
The Blue Demons return to the court on Sunday, October 7 when they host Rutgers. The BIG EAST match is slated to begin at 2 p.m. at McGrath Arena.