VILLANOVA, Pa. – Fresh off a 2-0 road trip to New England full of milestones, Villanova volleyball returns home this weekend for a pair of matches with BIG EAST foes.

Villanova (15-4, 6-2 BIG EAST) takes part in two crucial bouts against a couple teams in the mix for the BIG EAST Tournament, taking on DePaul on Friday night and Marquette on Saturday evening at Jake Nevin Field House.

NOTABLE WINS IN NEW ENGLAND    
It was a massive weekend up in New England for Villanova in their most recent slate, picking up four-set wins at both Providence and Connecticut to stay in the conference's top four with just about a month to play. Head coach Josh Steinbach picked up his 300th career win on Friday in a victory at PC, getting contributions across the board with six players above seven kills. The Wildcats finally got the monkey off their backs on Saturday as well, picking up VU's first win at Connecticut since 2010 and delivering the Huskies their first home loss this year as the 'Cats posted a season-high in blocks (15). The win over UConn vaults Villanova right into NCAA Tournament contention with one bracketology placing VU in the field while ESPN's projections list the 'Cats in the first four out category.

MATCHING UP WITH THE MIDWESTERNERS    
This week brings a pair of the BIG EAST's Midwest natives to the Jake Nevin Field House as the Wildcats will host DePaul and Marquette in a critical weekend. This will be the lone contest of the year for the 'Cats against both the Blue Demons and Golden Eagles as they are two of four league teams that VU will only match up with once in 2025, making wins all the more important for tiebreaking scenarios. Friday brings a young DePaul unit to the Main Line to kick off the weekend and despite a pair of losses last time out, the Blue Demons are right in the thick of a race for a BIG EAST Tournament berth as one of three teams tied at a 4-4 record. Marquette comes to Villanova after recently falling out of the national rankings following a Friday loss to Xavier, though the Golden Eagles are currently in line for both a conference and NCAA tournament bid.

AMAZING ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR ABBY    
It was a big time week across the board for junior outside hitter Abby Harrell who began it by reaching 1,000 career kills with her eighth termination at Providence. Harrell became the 21st Wildcat ever, sixth in the last 10 years and just the second since 2019 to join the 1K kill club, and she's done it only halfway through junior year. The Washington native continued on to a pair of double-doubles over the weekend, including her fifth 20-plus kill output of the season against UConn to power Villanova to a victory. Her 38 kills (4.75 per set) were enough to earn the first BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week in Harrell's impressive two-and-a-half year career to this point, just the fourth OPOW VU's earned since 2017.

DIVING INTO DEPAUL

• The Blue Demons maintain an 11-8 record with a 4-4 mark so far in conference play, most recently dropping home matches to both Butler and Xavier last weekend.
• DPU is well balanced as an attacking team, led by Kendall Timme's 219 kills with Morgan Stewart (195) and Katelynn Oxley (167) each adding more than 150 terminations. Setter Amanda Saeger (assists), libero Eva Hurrle (digs) and middle Jade Dudley-Epps (blocks) are all in the league's top five in their respective categories.
• This match marks the 30th time Villanova will meet DePaul with the 'Cats holding a 20-9 all-time edge, though last year's VU victory in Chicago is Villanova's only win since 2020.

A GANDER AT THE GOLDEN EAGLES

• Marquette owns a 12-6 mark on the year with a 6-2 record in the BIG EAST slate, sweeping No. 15 Florida earlier this season with half of their losses being to ranked teams.
• The Golden Eagles, under first-year head coach Tom Mendoza, are led by conference kill leader Natalie Ring (296) while graduate middle Hattie Bray (blocks) and freshman setter Isabela Haggard (assists) are second in the league for a major category.
• MU holds a 27-4 advantage over Villanova in the all-time series, though the Wildcats have two wins over Marquette at Jake Nevin in 2015 and 2017.

Each matchup will feature stats courtesy of StatBroadcast and streaming will be available on ESPN+.