KALAMAZOO, Mich. – It was another marathon victory for Villanova volleyball at the Western Michigan Tournament as the Wildcats took down Milwaukee in five sets (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 17-15) on Saturday at Read Fieldhouse.
The 2-0 start marks the first time Villanova has begun a season with back-to-back wins since 2019.
"It's great to win when we didn't play our best match," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Milwaukee played really hard and it was really impressive for us to gut that out. We haven't started 2-0 in a few years, so it feels good to get a few to begin the season."
Abby Harrell led the charge for Villanova (2-0) with her first career double-double of 18 kills and 15 digs, while middle blocker Kiera Booth added 18 terminations of her own.
Sophomore Skylar Gerhardt put forth her second double-double in as many days with 14 kills and 11 digs while leading the match with four service aces. Andrea Campos contributed a career-high 59 assists in addition to five kills on six attempts, while Madeline Barber totaled seven blocks and six kills.
Milwaukee hopped out to a 6-3 advantage in the opening stanza, but Villanova used scoring runs of 3-0 and 4-0 to capture a lead. The Panthers fought right back though, tying the set at 17-17 before three straight points from Gerhardt got the 'Cats up three again before a UWM timeout. Despite a late Milwaukee run, VU captured the set 25-22 with four players above three kills.
It was all Panthers to open the second, securing an early 7-3 edge. Villanova battled back to tie it at 15-15, but Milwaukee snatched momentum back and went back up as many as four before carrying that advantage into a 25-22 victory in the frame.
The Wildcats began the third stanza hot, getting points early and often on the way to an 11-5 edge. UWM put up a fight once again, tying the set at 14, 15, 16 and 17. Milwaukee eventually established a lead at multiple points but after VU tied it at 21-21, Villanova took four of the next six to secure an advantage of two sets to one.
UWM established an early edge of 4-0 in the fourth and led by seven multiple times in the stanza, storming its way to a 25-18 victory to force the Wildcats' second five setter in as many days.
Villanova took four of the first five points in that do-or-die fifth frame, then established an 8-5 advantage when the squads switched sides. Milwaukee made things much more interesting by tying the set, then took leads of 11-10 and 13-11 with a 7-1 stretch.
With the Wildcats down at match point, a Booth kill followed by a huge block from Barber and freshman Marly Smith kept VU in it. After UWM tied it at 15-15, kills from Harrell and Barber ended the match and brought Villanova to a 2-0 record.
UP NEXT: Villanova wraps up its opening weekend with the lone Sunday bout at University Arena, taking on the host Western Michigan Broncos at 12 p.m. in Kalamazoo.
