Final Stats

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova volleyball team made it seven straight wins with a 25-18, 25-8, 25-21 straight set win over Seton Hall on Saturday afternoon in South Orange, New Jersey.

The Wildcats (18-4, 8-1 BIG EAST) controlled the net the whole match, holding the opposition to a .009 hitting percentage and recording 13 blocks as a team. Gabby Pethokoukis (Western Springs, Ill./Benet Academy) led the Villanova block party with 10 blocks of her own.

"Our blockers did a really good job of just being solid," said Villanova head coach Josh Steinbach. "We tried to channel some things and ended up getting a lot of great touches. We blocked as well as we have in a while."

Allison Fitzgerald (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation Academy) and Michelle Adams (Sugar Land, Texas/William P. Clements) cleaned up what the blockers could not, tallying 13 digs and 10 digs, respectively.

Offensively, Villanova was led by Claire Crutchfield (Church Falls, Va./Bishop O'Connell) with 12 kills and Lauren Carpenter (Lakewood, Colo./Lakewood) with 10 kills. Carpenter recorded her kills without a single error and a .435 hitting percentage.

Emma Pettit (Ft. Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge) had 31 assists and three service aces on the day, leading the team in both categories.

Seton Hall (10-11, 4-5 BIG EAST) was led by Amanda Hansen who recorded eight kills, one of which was her 1,000th career kill as a Pirate.

Seton Hall scored the first two points of the match and extended the lead to 7-3 in the first set. The Pirates led 10-6 before a 4-0 run by the Wildcats evened the score. Crutchfield gave Villanova its first lead at 12-11. A 5-1 spurt gave the `Cats a 20-14 cushion late in the set and enough room to hold on and win the set.

Villanova dominated the second set from the beginning. The Wildcats never trailed and used an 18-3 run to turn a 7-5 lead into a 25-8 set victory.

After intermission the two teams were even at 7-7 until the Pirates went on a 5-1 run to take a four point lead. The set changed hands for the final time when Villanova went on a 12-2 run to build a six point lead.

Seton Hall trimmed the lead to 21-20, forcing a Villanova timeout, but a pair of Crutchfield kills and a pair of Pirate errors were the four points the Wildcats needed to win the set and end the match.

The Villanova volleyball team has played half of its conference matches and sits in second place with an 8-1 record. They will be back on the road Friday as they travel to DePaul to start the second half of the BIG EAST schedule.

"We had a good first round in conference and we feel pretty good about it," continued Steinbach. "It's one match at a time for us right now and the next one is at DePaul on Friday night."

Short Box Score (Match) 2015 Villanova Volleyball Villanova vs Seton Hall (Oct 15, 2015 at South Orange, N.J.)

Villanova def. Seton Hall 25-18,25-8,25-21

Villanova (18-4, 8-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Crutchfield, Claire 12-0-1; Carpenter, Lauren 10-0-0; Loitz, Allie 7-0-7; PEDERSEN-HENRY, A. 4-1-0; Pethokoukis, Gabby 3-0-10; Pettit, Emma 1-3-4; FITZGERALD, Allison 0-1-0; Adams, Michelle 0-2-0; Totals 37-7-13.0. (Assists) - Pettit, Emma 31. (Dig leaders) - Fitzgerald, Allison 13; ADAMS, Michelle 10; Carpenter, Lauren 8

Seton Hall (10-11, 4-5) (Kills-aces-blocks) - HANSEN, Amanda 8-0-2; HENNIGAN, Cherise 6-0-0; SCHROEDER, Danielle 4-2-1; KOSKA, Caitlin 4-0-3; COFFEY, Sophia 2-0-0; THELEN, Abby 1-0-2; Totals 25-2-4.0. (Assists) - COFFEY, Sophia 21. (Dig leaders) - FOURNIER, Tessa 15; KENNEWEG, Sarah 8

Site: South Orange, N.J. (Walsh Gymnasium) Date: Oct 15, 2015 Attend: 127 Time: 1:17 Referees: Hansen Leong, James Esteves, Hung/