VILLANOVA, Pa. — Rose Crist tallied a career-high 23 kills as Villanova volleyball suffered its first loss of the weekend in a five-set thriller (25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 21-25, 9-15) against the Fairfield Stags in the finale of the Villanova Classic.
"We played better tonight but just couldn't finish," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Fairfield is really talented and they're going to be a tournament team. Credit to them for playing so well tonight, but at the end of the day, that's a team we need to be."
Crist totaled her 23 kills on a .367 hitting percentage and Riley Homer added 11 kills and 17 digs for Villanova (3-3). Crist and Homer were each named to the All-Tournament Team for their performances on the weekend.
In her first significant time of the season, senior Kathleen Johnson contributed nine kills and two blocks. Belle Morgan totaled a match-high 43 assists, while libero Taryn Whittingham tallied 24 digs.
The Wildcats came out firing in the first set, as VU went up 15-6 thanks to a .750 team hitting percentage (9 kills on 12 attacks). Fairfield worked its way back into the set with a 4-0 scoring run, but Villanova continued on to a 25-18 victory.
The Stags got out to a hot start in the second frame, taking a 7-2 lead to begin the period. However, Villanova regained momentum and tied the score at 9-9 before Fairfield secured a 16-12 advantage. FU maintained that lead through the rest of the frame, completing a 25-21 set win.
Fairfield again established an early lead in the third set, taking the first three points of the frame. To no surprise, the Wildcats battled back into it and moved to a five-point win in the stanza, 25-20.
Once again, it was Fairfield with the advantage in the beginning of the fourth set, jumping out to a 13-8 lead. The Wildcats threatened, but FU secured the frame 25-21 and forced a decisive fifth.
VU went up 3-0 to start the closing stanza, but Fairfield used a 6-0 run to take a three-point advantage. The Stags took nine of the final 13 points of the frame to pick up the 15-9 victory.
NEXT UP: The 'Cats will travel to Ohio for three matches of the Dayton Invitational. The contests will be against Missouri State on Friday morning, Dayton on Friday night and Illinois at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
