VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova volleyball team completed an important weekend with a victory on Saturday, taking down the first-place St. John's Red Storm in four sets (24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20) at Jake Nevin Field House.

Abby Harrell once again led for Villanova (14-8, 5-5 BIG EAST) with 17 kills, while Skylar Gerhardt totaled 12 terminations on a .310 hitting percentage. Madeline Barber and Kiera Booth each added 11 kills of their own, with Barber totaling a match and season high seven blocks and Booth contributed five rejections of her own. 

Andrea Campos totaled 49 assists and four service aces to lead all participants while Taryn Whittingham put up 19 digs for a match high. 

As a whole, the Wildcats had seven players with a kill, recorded the squad's most kills (62) in a four-set match this season and set the team's record for blocks this season with 12.

"That's such a big win for us and huge for our season," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "It's gigantic for both our kids and our coaching staff. Andrea had an awesome weekend for us and having her athleticism on the court has been huge for us."

The Wildcats led for much of the opening to the first stanza up to 17-16, but a 6-1 SJU run turned the tides of the frame. The 'Cats used a 4-0 stretch of their own to snatch back the lead, but the Johnnies staved off a set point and then strung together three in a row to win it 26-24.

Another hot start from Villanova began the second set, jumping out to a 9-3 advantage. But the Red Storm kept chipping away and got it down to 17-16 before the Wildcats found their footing again, picking up the necessary eight points to make it one set apiece.

VU began the third frame on another high note with a 9-5 edge, then a 6-0 stretch with Gerhardt at the service line created some distance. As was tradition throughout the match, the Johnnies wouldn't go away quietly and pulled within one. But once again, it was the 'Cats putting together the points they needed and taking their first lead of the match at two sets to one.

The fourth period saw SJU get out to a 5-2 advantage, but Villanova outscored them 19-10 in the next stretch to go up by seven. The Red Storm got it back down to three with a four-point run, but a pair of kills from Gerhardt gave the Wildcats what they needed for a critical four-set victory.

With the win, the Wildcats move to 24-17 all-time against the Johnnies and advance to 6-4 in the last ten contests versus SJU.

UP NEXT: Villanova will participate in its final midweek match of the regular season on Wednesday, hosting the Georgetown Hoyas at 7 p.m. from Jake Nevin Field House.