VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova volleyball dominated in its BIG EAST opener, sweeping the Georgetown Hoyas in straight sets (25-15, 25-21, 25-18) at the Jake Nevin Field House on Friday night. The win marked VU's fifth straight victory and the third sweep in a row.
Taylor Jakubowski led the way for Villanova (8-4) with a 14-assist, 10-dig double-double in addition to three kills and a pair of aces. Six Wildcats tallied more than four kills, paced by Cat Young's 10 (at a career-high .476 clip) and Tara Garvey's nine.
Four different members of the VU roster totaled three blocks in the match as a trio of players eclipsed the double digit point mark, and Alyssa Nelson led the match with 18 assists.
Villanova dominated the match in every category, producing 60 points to Georgetown's 37 with the only five aces of the match and an edge in kills, blocks, assists and digs.
"That's a great win, we played really hard tonight," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "We made lots of good decisions offensively, we were great at scrambling around defensively and Alyssa was fantastic in that match, those were our keys tonight."
After Georgetown got out to a 4-1 lead to begin the match, it was all Wildcats in the opener as separate 4-0 and 6-0 runs prompted Hoya timeouts. The 'Cats hit .429 with a five block advantage in the first frame, storming their way to a 25-15 stanza victory.
Set two featured a much tighter start as the score was tied up at 11-all and didn't advance beyond a six-point gap, but a 19-kill period from Villanova allowed a 25-21 win and a two set edge.
The third frame saw a hot Villanova start countered by some Georgetown runs to take a 10-9 lead, but the Wildcats punched right back and ended the match on a 4-0 stretch to sweep the conference lidlifter.
With the victory, Villanova pulls within one match of even in the series, now only trailing 31-32 in the all-time results between the two rivals.
UP NEXT: The 'Cats will head north on the New Jersey turnpike for a late Saturday afternoon match, stopping in South Orange for a 5 p.m. square-off against the Seton Hall Pirates.
