NEW YORK – Freshman Jenna Walsh (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) collected career-highs of 11 kills and eight digs to lead the Seton Hall women’s volleyball team to a sweep of Columbia, 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-18), to win the Big Apple Tournament and claim its seventh straight victory.
 
The Hall has now won tournament titles in back-to-back weekends and its seven-match win streak is its longest since 2014.  Perri Lucas (Chicago, Ill.) and Madeline Matheny (Wilmington, Del.) were named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Walsh was spectacular, collecting a team-high 11 kills with no attack errors and a .458 attack percentage.  She also had a career-high eight digs. 
 
Lucas had 10 kills, only two attack errors, and a .533 attack percentage.  Freshman Anna Holland (Waukesha, Wis.) had a match-high 19 digs to go with three assists.
 
SET 1:
Seton Hall charged out of the gates in the opening set.  Leading 6-4, the Pirates went on an 8-1 run and blocks by Matheny and Amanda Rachwal (Bethlehem, Pa.) gave them a commanding 14-5 advantage.  Columbia was never able to cut their deficit to fewer than six points for the remainder of the set.  With the Pirates in set point, a kill by Madison Frusha (Huntsville, Texas) won it for The Hall, 25-17.
 
SET 2:
Leading 12-8 in the second set, the Pirates scored four of the next five points, and a kill by Rachwal gave The Hall a 16-9 lead.  Still leading by seven, 23-16, a kill by Lucas put Seton Hall in set point, and a Columbia attack error handed the second set to The Hall.  The Pirates had a .444 attack percentage in the second set, which included 14 kills and only two attack errors.
 
SET 3:
Seton Hall kept up the pressure early in set three, and a kill by Matheny gave it a 9-5 lead.  Columbia cut their deficit to 12-10, but the Pirates responded with an 8-1 run, and a kill by Reagan Hopp (Carmel, Ind.) gave them a commanding 20-11 advantage.  The Pirates went on to clinch the match with a 25-18 set three victory.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Walsh had a career-high 11 kills, with no attack errors and eight digs.
• Lucas finished with 10 kills, only two attack errors, and a .533 attack percentage.
• Holland had a match-high 19 digs and three assists.
• Rachwal finished with six kills, a .625 attack percentage and a match-high six blocks.
• Seton Hall recorded a .400 attack percentage for the match, while Columbia attacked at .151.
• The Pirates had 45 kills, while the Lions recorded 36.
• Seton Hall finished with 55 digs, while Columbia had 39.
• The Pirates had 10.0 total blocks, while Columbia had 4.0.

NEWS & NOTES:

• Seton Hall improves to 7-3 on the young season, and has now won seven straight contests.  Columbia drops to 2-4.
• The Pirates improve to a perfect 8-0 all-time against Columbia.  Seton Hall now owns an all-time set record of 24-2 against the Lions.
• The Hall has now swept two early season tournaments for the first time since the 2014 season.  Last weekend, the Pirates claimed the title of the Fairfield Invitational.
• The Hall’s current seven-match win streak is its longest since their famed season of 2014.  That year, the Pirates had two separate winning streaks of at least nine matches, including a 12-match winning streak.
• Lucas has now reached double-figures in kills in nine of 10 matches so far this year.
• Seton Hall out-blocked Columbia today, 10.0-to-4.0.  It’s the ninth time in 10 matches this season that Pirates have out-blocked their opponent.  They’re 7-2 in those matches.
• The Pirates have held seven straight opponents to under a .200 attack percentage for the match.

UP NEXT:
Seton Hall will return to action next weekend for three matches as part of the UNF Invitational in Jacksonville, Fla.  The Pirates will play Florida International at 1:30 p.m., followed by Middle Tennessee at 4:30 p.m.  On Saturday, The Hall will wrap up the tournament with a contest against host North Florida at 5:00 p.m.