PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Villanova volleyball got back in the win column on Friday night, taking down the Providence Friars in four sets (25-21, 16-25, 25-19, 25-17) at Alumni Hall.

It was an evening of milestones for Villanova (14-4, 5-2 BIG EAST) as junior outside hitter Abby Harrell reached 1,000 career kills and head coach Josh Steinbach crossed the 300-win threshold in his 19-year career. 

Harrell contributed a match-high 18 kills to become the 21st Wildcat ever, and sixth in the last 10 years, to join the 1K kill club.

Steinbach, already the winningest coach in Villanova volleyball history by a wide margin, becomes the 74th active Division I head coach to reach 300 and only the second one in the BIG EAST.

"Abby at 1000 kills at this time in her junior year is really impressive, I'm really happy to have her with us," Steinbach said. "Providence played well tonight, they've always given us trouble up here and tonight was not an exception. I thought Lola Buck-Taylor came in and gave us a spark defensively today."

Harrell paced the Wildcats on the night with a double-double featuring 12 digs while Ava Mehrten (11 terminations on .500 hitting) and Campbell McKinnon (10 kills at a .714 clip) each had strong attacking outputs for the 'Cats.

Alyssa Nelson led the match with 28 assists as VU had six hitters above seven kills, including nine from Taylor Lewis, eight by Cat Young and seven from Reagan McGivern in addition to a team-best three blocks.

The 'Cats took the first two points of the match and refused to look back for the remainder of set one, not even allowing PC to tie the score on the way to a 25-21 victory in the opener.

Villanova jumped out to a 12-9 edge in the second, but a 10-1 Friars run put the Wildcats on their heels as the hosts moved to a 25-16 win for an even match.

Set three saw an early turnaround by the visitors as the period began with a 9-3 VU advantage before a later 5-0 run gave the 'Cats enough distance to withstand a late PC run for a 25-19 Villanova W.

It was another hot start to the fourth for the Wildcats, going up 8-4 early and ballooning the lead to 18-11 before cruising to a 25-17 victory and a four-set win.

The W marks Villanova's 30th win over the Friars historically, moving VU to 30-21 all-time against PC with wins in the last four and seven of the last eight.