VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova volleyball fell to UConn in three sets (25-23, 25-19, 29-27) on Saturday night in the last regular season home match.

Before the game, the program honored their five graduating seniors Rose Crist, Elizabeth Feczko, Ellery Gray, Dani Ortiz and Ozzie Ozonoh, as well as graduate students Riley Homer and Taylor Jakubowski.

Abby Harrell assumed her position atop of the Wildcats' termination leaders early, recording four of her 10 total kills in the first set.

Campbell McKinnon blocked five attacks on the night; Taylor Lewis followed close behind with three of her own, thwarting UConn scoring attempts.

"It was a great crowd on Senior Night; I appreciate everyone coming out to support," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "I'm proud of our kids; they played really hard tonight. We have to come up with a play or two more, and I think we've got a shot at these guys [UConn] on Wednesday, so we'll have to review it and get after it."

Villanova started out down 3-0 in the first set but came back with momentum quickly, going on a 6-0 run and forcing a timeout by the Huskies. VU maintained the lead until the frame was knotted at 15, where they traded points until the Huskies scored two in a row to take the first set 25-23.

In the second stanza, the Wildcats were unable to withstand the UConn attack, going down by as much as 10 at 21-11 after letting the Huskies go on a 9-0 run. The thunderous crowd at the Jake Nevin Field House gave the energy needed for the 'Cats to close out on an 8-4 run, but the Huskies used a timeout to stop the momentum and clinch the set 25-19.
 
To start the third frame, UConn played off the boost of their 2-0 lead, rushing out to three and four point leads multiple times early in the set. The Wildcats were able to pull together a 5-0 rally to go ahead 17-15, helped by a block and termination by Lewis, two kills by Harrell, and back-to-back service aces by Jakubowski. The Huskies called a timeout and the Wildcats tacked on another point with a Crist kill. VU took the Huskies well past the 25-point mark, fighting until ultimately coming up short in the battle at 29-27.

SENIOR STATS
Crist recorded four kills, marking the second match in a row she totaled at least four. Ozonoh had three kills and a block while totaling a .750 hitting percentage for the match. Feczko assisted on five points across the match for the Wildcats and led her side with 10 digs. 

Gray also tallied five assists, all of which came in the third set. Three of the helpers occurred during the Wildcat comeback to take the lead and force a timeout by the Huskies.

Homer totaled three terminations and two blocks and Jakubowski set her way to a team-high 15 assists on the night and also had two aces.

UP NEXT: Villanova will be back in action on Wednesday, November 27 for a rematch against UConn at the BIG EAST Tournament in Omaha, scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Eastern. The Wildcats will rank as the sixth seed during the tournament, with a semifinal matchup against Marquette waiting on Friday if the 'Cats escape the opener vs. the Huskies.