VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova volleyball began its weekend on a high note, taking down the Connecticut Huskies in straight sets (25-23, 25-22, 25-20) at the Jake Nevin Field House on Friday afternoon.

Abby Harrell paced Villanova (11-6, 2-3 BIG EAST) with a double-double, contributing 13 kills in addition to 12 digs. Kiera Booth tied Harrell's match high with 13 kills on a .423 hitting percentage while Skylar Gerhardt added nine kills and eight digs on the day. 

Andrea Campos led all participants with 34 assists with Taryn Whittingham topping the match at 16 digs. Madeline Barber and Riley Homer tallied identical stat lines, each totaling five kills and three blocks.

"That was a good team win tonight," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Taryn and Elizabeth Feczko had good defensive matches that really got us going in this one."

The sides traded points for the majority of the first stanza, with the largest string of consecutive points for each squad ending at three. But Villanova took five of seven at one point, forcing a Connecticut timeout with VU's lead up to four before the Huskies eventually tied it at 21-21. 

With the score again knotted at 23, a long rally was ended by a Booth kill and Dani Ortiz followed it up with Villanova's first service ace of the day to grant the 'Cats a 25-23 set one victory.

After the Huskies grabbed multiple three point leads early in the second frame, the Wildcats battled back to tie it at 19-19 thanks to outstanding play from the two middles, Barber and Booth. After that, Villanova took six of the final eight to secure a 25-22 win and two-set advantage.

The Wildcats took an early 3-2 lead in the third period and would not relinquish it, never trailing in the stanza and dominating at the net en route to a 25-20 win and a sweep of the match.

With the victory, Villanova moves to 23-13 all-time against the Huskies, snapping a five-match losing streak with its first win in the series since March of 2020.