Seton Hill hosted West Chester on Tuesday evening in the McKenna Center in front of a big crowd in the PSAC Quarterfinal. West Chester did not give the crowd a chance to get going in the first two sets as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Griffins responded in the third set but West Chester put the match away in the fourth set to advance to the PSAC Semifinal with a 3-1 win. SHU drops to 22-7 on the season while West Chester improves to 24-7.
The Griffins got off to a good start in the first set as they took a 7-4 lead, thanks mostly to West Chester errors. West Chester battled back to take the lead before Viktoria Farian tied the set at 11 with a kill. WCU built their lead to 16-12 but two more WCU errors trimmed the lead to 16-14. The Griffins could not get any closer than two points and West Chester took a 1-0 lead with a 25-20 first set win.
SHU again took an early lead in the second set as Farian had two kills and Jenna Sassack & Maggie Murray combined on a block during a 4-0 Griffin run that gave SHU the 5-4 lead. After a 5-0 WCU run, the Griffins answered with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the set at nine. The Rams then used a 4-0 and 6-0 run in the set to take control of the set and take a 2-0 lead over the Griffins with a 25-15 second set win.
Through two sets, West Chester had 30 kills and only eight errors while the Griffins just had 17 kills and 14 errors.
Seton Hill finally woke up in the third set. Again they jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the set. Back to back kills from Leah Bisignani and Erin Parks gave SHU a 10-4 lead. WCU responded with four straight points, forcing a Griffin timeout. A kill from Parks, two aces from Sidney Chapman and two kills from Farian started a 5-0 Griffin run where they took a 15-8 lead. SHU continued to hold a seven point lead after a Murray kill gave them a 22-15 lead. Kills from Katie Wenson and Farian ended the set and cut the WCU lead to 2-1 after a 25-17 third set win.
SHU had 17 kills and just three errors in the set while West Chester had 10 kills and three errors.
The team carried the momentum from the third set into the fourth set as they came out on fire and took a 7-1 lead. That momentum did not last very long as West Chester scored thirteen of the next seventeen points to take a 14-11 lead. Kills from Farian and Murray and a WCU hitting error tied the match at 14. WCU used a 4-1 run to take a 19-16 lead. Two kills from Farian and a Ram service error got the Griffins to within one at 20-19. After a SHU timeout, Murray and Wenson teamed up for a block to cut the lead to 23-21. West Chester scored the next point to set up a match point. The Griffins eliminated two of the set points with a kill from Farian and a block from Chapman and Bisignani that cut the lead to 24-23. The Rams ended the match with a block.
In the fourth set, West Chester had 14 kills and 6 errors while the Griffins had 11 kills and 9 errors.
Viktoria Farian was the lone Griffin in double figures with 19 kills. She added 13 digs for a double double. Maggie Murray and Sidney Chapman each added 6 kills. Chapman had 13 digs while Murray added 10 digs and 29 assists. Mary Baich had a team high 16 kills.
The Griffins must now await their fate in the NCAA postseason. The bracket will be announced next Monday evening at 7:30 PM. The top eight teams in the region make the NCAA Tournament with the PSAC, MEC and CIAA champion earning automatic bids. SHU was fourth in last week's rankings. The last regional rankings will be released on Wednesday.
