VILLANOVA, Pa.- BIG EAST All-Freshman Team, Grand Canyon Invitational All-Tournament Team, Northeastern Tournament MVP and BIG EAST Honor Roll are all accolades that Riley Homer has earned during her two seasons with Villanova Volleyball. Although she appreciates the honors, Homer credits the team for her success.

"It's nice that I'm getting that recognition but it's the whole team that deserves it," Homer said.

Coming off an impressive freshman season where Homer led the team in kills and was named to the BIG EAST All-Freshman team, the sophomore from Grand Rapids, Michigan hit the ground running this fall on the court. The sophomore has racked up 189 kills in 14 matches with 89 digs.

After a season of dealing with the Covid-19 and game cancellations, it's been a breath of fresh air so far this season for Homer and the team's chemistry.

"I think a lot of our team's success stems from the time that we've spent together that we didn't get last year," Homer said. "We're a pretty close team on and off the court and it's amazing that our team's chemistry can translate on the court."

The Wildcats opened their 2021 season with perennial powerhouse Stanford at the Finneran Pavilion in front of 3,000 fans and the environment was a complete 180 from the 2020 season, according to Homer.

"It was amazing having Nova Nation at our match and I liked seeing the fans and the instant replay on the video boards, it was such a great experience," Homer said. "The energy that the crowd brings does matter to the sport."

During their non-conference play, the Wildcats went on a three-match losing streak at the Grand Canyon Invitational. Before their next tournament in Boston, a conversation between Homer and sophomore middle blocker Kiera Booth provided a spark for the team that showed on the court.

"We obviously didn't want to finish the way we did at GCU so that was putting us in a bad position coming into the Boston tournament," Booth said. "Riley and I talked about how something needed to happen and we have to give it our all and play relaxed because at that time, the team was playing really tense."

Booth and Homer relayed the message to the team and a switch was flipped. The Wildcats went 3-0 in the Boston Tournament, defeating Northeastern, Bryant and Harvard.
Homer and Booth also manifested their way to earning All-Tournament honors before stepping on the court.

"I turned to Kiera before the tournament and said, 'Let's get All-Tournament this weekend'."

49 kills later, including a career-high 25 against Northeastern, Homer was named Tournament MVP. After totaling 27 kills and 17 blocks, Booth was selected to the All-Tournament team.

Villanova finished their non-conference play with an 8-4 record, winning five of their last six matches. Booth and Homer have been a dominant pair for the Wildcats on the attack and in the middle. In 14 matches, Booth has tallied 113 kills, 42 blocks paired with a .295 hitting percentage.

"We're connecting more with our teammates this year and the preseason training has helped us improve," Booth said. "Being sophomores and having a year under our belt gives us more experience and has allowed us to be comfortable in the position that we're in."

Homer and the Wildcats look to use their on-court chemistry to their advantage during BIG EAST play in hopes for a bid to the conference tournament in November.