WASHINGTON, D.C. – Villanova volleyball bounced back from its first loss of BIG EAST play with an important win on Thursday night, taking down the Georgetown Hoyas in four sets (28-26, 31-33, 25-14, 25-21) at McDonough Arena.

Abby Harrell paced the match with a 20-kill, 13-dig double-double on .385 hitting for Villanova (13-3, 4-1 BIG EAST) while Ava Mehrten added 12 kills at a .455 clip for her season-high as a Wildcat to move the 'Cats to their best start to a season since 2010 (also 13-3).

Both setters Ava Harris (24 assists, 10 digs) and Alyssa Nelson (18 assists, 10 digs) contributed double-doubles for the Wildcats as Marly Smith set career highs in both blocks (five) and aces (four).

Campbell McKinnon and Taylor Lewis each pitched in 10 terminations, the top four digs outputs in the game came from 'Cats and as a team, Villanova tied its season-high in aces with nine.

"It's good to get a win here, it's a hard place to play and Georgetown is much improved," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Abby had an outstanding night and Marly continues to play well for us."

The teams exchanged runs to open the first, but the 'Cats broke an 8-8 tie with a 10-3 stretch to seemingly wrest control of the period. Down at set point the Hoyas battled all the way back and took seven straight to earn a set point of their own, but VU grabbed four of the final five to win the set 28-26.

It was much more evenly matched throughout the second as there were 23 ties in a stanza that featured 14 extra points. Both sides turned away a number of set points up until Georgetown snatched four of the last five to take a 33-31 victory and even up the match.

Villanova jumped out to a 10-3 edge in the third thanks to a 6-0 service run from Smith and kept up the momentum the remainder of the frame, finishing it with five straight for a 25-14 W.

The sides traded 4-0 stretches early in the fourth and VU led by just one at the media timeout, then it was the Wildcats stringing together the necessary points the rest of the set for a 25-21 win and four-set W.

VU evens up the all-time series with the victory, tying the historical record at 32-32 with wins in the last five contests opposite the Hoyas.

UP NEXT: The Wildcats will return home for a Saturday standoff against No. 13 Creighton, welcoming the Bluejays to the Main Line for a 7 p.m. battle at Jake Nevin Field House.