STORRS, Conn. – The Villanova volleyball team (11-6, 4-2 BIG EAST) takes a trip to New England this weekend for a pair of BIG EAST bouts, visiting the Connecticut Huskies on Friday afternoon before a Saturday bout at Providence.

THE ROOKIE RAP    
This year's freshmen class has been a revelation for Villanova, with five of the six first-years making an instant impact on the court for the Wildcats. Four members of the starting lineup are in their debut season as collegians, including a six-rotation outside hitter and one of the two starting middle blockers, liberos and setters. Two of the top three point producers are freshmen, including a 145-kill, 52-block season so far from Campbell McKinnon and 140 points from Cat Young. Alyssa Nelson is the team leader in both assists (328) and digs (134) with a runner-up mark in aces (16) despite only playing three rotations in the 6-2 offense. Lola Buck-Taylor has been the libero used in serving situations with 74 digs to her name, while Taylor Lewis has totaled 40 terminations as part of a three-player opposite hitter group.

SWINGING WITH SUCCESS    
One of the high points for the Wildcats in 2024 has been the efficiency of their offense. In BIG EAST play, Villanova ranks second in the league for both kills and assists plus third in hitting percentage. A good deal of that success has been the bevy of options at the disposal of the team's setters, with four players over 100 kills and seven above 40 terminations. Despite a high percentage of points coming from newcomers, veterans have been critical as a steadying force with Abby Harrell pacing the VU offense at 191 kills, while Tara Garvey (110 kills), Riley Homer and Ozzie Ozonoh (both 68 kills) have provided important options on the right side and in the middle.

CANVASSING CONNECTICUT

• The Huskies enter the weekend at 16-2, the lone two losses coming to a pair of nationally ranked opponents (Creighton and Marquette) in the opening BIG EAST weekend. As a unit, Connecticut is the league leader in service aces and second for both hitting and opponent hitting percentage.
• Emma Werkmeister has been UConn's werk-horse in 2024, boasting a team-high 224 kills to rank second in the conference for that metric, as well as a league-best 40 aces despite missing the last match.
• Senior setter Doga Kutlu ranks top five in the BIG EAST for both assists and aces while freshman libero McKenna Brand sits third in digs per set (3.74) during conference play.

PEEKING AT PROVIDENCE

• Providence is the lone team that's winless so far in BIG EAST play, owners of a 7-10 record but 0-6 in conference. PC has been swept three times by league foes with four-set losses to each of Butler and Georgetown plus a five-set defeat by Seton Hall.
• PC's wins this year include a sweep of the Friar Volleyball Classic plus Ws over Evansville, Brown, Siena and Quinnipiac.
• Miller McDonald is the team leader in helpers, sitting eighth in assists per set during conference play. Kayla Grant owns a team high for blocks at 61 with the fourth highest overall hitting percentage in the league and senior hitter Shaliyah Rhoden leads her squad at 187 kills.

Both matches will stream on FloSports with Friday set for a 3:00 p.m. start featuring statistics on StatBroadcast and Saturday's opening serve also at 3 with stats courtesy of PC's Sidearm site.