NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Villanova Wildcats brought a fight to the reigning Ivy League champions and threatened to be the first road team to win at the John J. Lee Amphitheater since 2021, but ultimately couldn't defeat the Yale Bulldogs on Friday night in a marathon five-setter (18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-25, 10-15).

Abby Harrell paced Villanova (3-4) with 13 kills while Ozzie Ozonoh totaled a career-high six kills and five blocks in the match.

Taylor Jakubowski led the Wildcats with 18 assists and a match-best two service aces, dominating at the service line in the second and third sets to power the Wildcats to victories in those frames.

Freshman setter Alyssa Nelson contributed 17 assists plus eight digs and first-year libero Lola Buck-Taylor tallied a career-best seven digs and four assists.

Head coach Josh Steinbach missed the match due to illness, so assistant coach Joe Portland served as acting head coach for the contest.

The sides traded points in the first set up through 9-9 before Yale moved its lead up to 14-10. The 'Cats closed it to within three multiple times, but the Bulldogs re-grouped and pulled out a 25-18 first frame.

It was more back-and-forth action to open out the second stanza, ties coming up through 11-all before a seven-point Villanova stretch with Jakubowski at the service line caused a pair of timeouts from the hosts. Yale closed things within three, but a .250 Wildcat hitting percentage led to a 25-21 victory and an even match.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the third to prompt an early VU pause, but Villanova clawed its way back and ended up as the first to 15. Again with Jakubowski serving, the 'Cats went on a 6-0 run for a 19-13 edge and despite Yale closing to within two, VU ended it with a five-point stretch for a 25-18 win and one set advantage.

Yale stormed out to another big lead in the fourth, leading 5-0 and eventually 15-6 before Villanova took its final break. The Wildcats got important contributions from Tara Garvey (four kills in the fourth) and Ozonoh to build some momentum back, but the Bulldogs forced a fifth with a 25-15 win.

After the squads traded points for the first five of the fifth, VU strung together three in a row to separate themselves and lead 8-6 as the teams traded sides. But Yale answered with a run of its own for a 10-8 edge and expanded it en route to the end of the match at 15-10.