WASHINGTON, D.C. – Villanova volleyball made the most of its midweek trip south, taking down the Georgetown Hoyas in four sets (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21) at McDonough Arena on Wednesday night.

It was a balanced attacking night for Villanova (12-7, 3-4 BIG EAST), led by 12 kills from Abby Harrell, 11 for Kiera Booth and eight each from Madeline Barber and Skylar Gerhardt. Harrell added a career-high five service aces and Taryn Whittingham led the match with 18 digs on the evening.

"It's our first BIG EAST road win of the year and it feels really good to get that, plus it's our first time winning here in a few years so that feels good for our seniors," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Our middles hit really well tonight and I'm really glad Riley Homer was able to put that one away at the end to close us out."

With the victory, Villanova moves to 19-10 all-time against the Hoyas, picking up the first win in Georgetown's gym since 2019, which was before any of the current players were on the roster.

After the teams traded scores for much of the first stanza, it was a 5-0 Wildcat run led by strong serving and two aces from Dani Ortiz to force a Georgetown timeout. The 'Cats expanded their lead to 16-10 and despite some fight from the Hoyas to get the lead within two, Villanova finished the job and won the opening set 25-21.

Georgetown hopped out to a 15-12 advantage to start the second frame and eventually got to lead by as many as five. From there, though, the Wildcats closed out the period on a 10-3 run to make it two sets to none.

It was another early Hoyas edge in the third set, using a dominant serving run to capture five points in a row and force an early VU pause. With Georgetown up 10-3, Villanova scratched its way back into it over time and eventually tied it at 15-all. 

The 'Cats got their first lead of the period at 19-18 after a long rally was finished off by Marly Smith, but Georgetown was able to string together six of the final eight points and take the match into the fourth.

Harrell started out that period with a dominant run, totaling four service aces and a kill en route to a 7-0 run to begin the frame. The Wildcats were doubling up the Hoyas at multiple points and held off a late GU run to pick up the four-set win.

UP NEXT: The 'Cats now travel to Omaha for a contest against one of the BIG EAST preseason favorites, the Creighton Bluejays. Opening serve is set for 2 PM Eastern / 1 PM Central from DJ Sokol Arena.