Box Score Nov. 23, 2014 Box Score
Washington, D.C. -
The Villanova volleyball team finished out their 2014 campaign this afternoon as the Wildcats fell to the Georgetown Hoyas in three sets with scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-19. Steinbach and his squad finished out the year with an overall record of 13-20, 6-12 in the BIG EAST.
Starters: Carpenter, Hickey, DiBernardo, Cunningham, Berendt, Crutchfield and Adams.
The Wildcat offense came out on the ready, quickly putting a kill on the board from junior outside hitter Colleen Hickey. The lead was short lived however as the Hoyas went on a 4-1 streak to make an early jump on the Wildcats. With a scoreboard that showed an even score at 19, another Hickey kill gave the Wildcats the momentum to put five unanswered points on the board from three back-to-back Georgetown errors and a block from Cunningham and Hickey.
After a Hoya timeout however, Georgetown came from behind and put six unanswered points on the board to take the first set with a score of 25-23.
The second set proved to be as tough a battle as the first one for the Wildcats as the Hoyas jumped to an early 5-2 lead. Georgetown was able to extend their lead to 10-5 until errors and back-to-back Carpenter service aces gave the Wildcats a slight push of momentum. The largest Hoya lead of the set came off a Hoya service ace to make the score 16-9.
Sensing a second loss, the Villanova offense attempted one more surge, ignited by a pair of Georgetown errors, with a service ace from sophomore middle blocker Michaela Berendt. Blocks from Rembert and Crutchfield and back-to-back kills from Rembert and O'Neil brought the teams within three points of each other. This would be the closest the score came as Georgetown eventually took the second set with a score of 25-19.
The third set look promising for the Wildcats as sophomore outside hitter Claire Crutchfield posted the first kill of the set to put Villanova on the board first. This was quickly followed by blocks from O'Neil and Cunningham and a kill from Berendt to give Nova the early 5-3 lead. Once again the two squads traded points without anyone taking a definite lead until a kill from Carpenter sparked a 5-1 streak to put the 'Cats ahead 15-12 midway through the set. The lead was once again short lived as Georgetown regained the lead off back-to-back kills from Hoya Alex Johnson and ended the match with a score of 25-19.
Similar to their last meeting, Berendt let the Nova attack with seven kills on 22 attempts for a hitting percentage of .182. The sophomore also logged one service ace and three block assists.
A force to be reckoned with behind the net, Cunningham logged six block assists and one solo block. Cunningham's cunning defensive skills were often the spark to ignite the Wildcat offense with her stops coming at crucial times for the Wildcats as they struggled to find their rhythm.
Junior libero Michelle Adams dug deep for the Wildcats 18 times while senior Allie DiBernardo and junior Emma Pettit split the setting duties posting 12 and 10 assists, respectively.
As a team, the Wildcats posted 28 kills on 110 attempts with 23 errors for an overall hitting percentage of .045, 27 assists, three service aces, 51 digs and nine total team blocks.
