VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova volleyball punched its ticket to the 2025 BIG EAST Volleyball Tournament with a wild victory on Friday night, taking down the Connecticut Huskies in a reverse sweep (23-25, 14-25, 25-17, 27-25, 15-10) in front of over 750 fans at Jake Nevin Field House.
Despite the field shrinking to just four teams this year, the 'Cats will advance to the BIG EAST Tournament for the third straight season and a Saturday victory would ensure the three seed for VU.
Friday night was the first reverse sweep for the Wildcats since last October at Providence, just the fifth five-set win of the season and the first since a marathon win over St. John's on September 26.
Abby Harrell paced the match with a 20-kill, 10-dig double-double for Villanova (19-7, 10-5 BIG EAST) while Taylor Lewis contributed a career-best 17 kills on .406 hitting. Reagan McGivern added eight kills on .571 hitting and a match-high eight blocks.
Alyssa Nelson (12 digs and a team season-best 35 assists) and Ava Harris (19 assists, career-high 15 digs) both notched double-doubles by spreading the ball around to an impressive degree as all six primary VU hitters went above six kills.
"Tonight was a huge team win for us. Too many players made plays for me to just mention a few," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "I'm really proud of this group and grateful to have the chance to coach them for another week."
It was an evenly matched first frame as neither side could establish an edge of more than three. Down 22-19, Connecticut grabbed six of the final seven points to take the opening period 25-23.
The Huskies started the second with an advantage of 3-0 and then moved it to leads of 8-2 and 14-6 before winning the period 25-14 for a two set edge.
Villanova was the aggressor to open the third with a 4-1 lead and kept up that momentum, rounding it out as a 25-17 win to extend the match.
The Wildcats jumped all over UConn to begin the fourth with a 9-1 advantage and moved to lead by as many 10. But down 16-6, the Huskies responded with 12 of the next 14 points to knot the score at 18-all, then took a 20-19 lead. The 'Cats answered with four in a row and then forced the visitors into three straight set points, taking the last of those for a 27-25 victory to send the match to five.
It was once again a strong start in the decisive fifth for the home side, grabbing the first four points and leading 8-5 at the switch of sides. The momentum stayed with the Wildcats the rest of the way, powering themselves to a reverse sweep with a 15-10 win for a postseason berth.
Villanova moves to a double-digit edge in the all-time series, now holding a 26-16 advantage over the Huskies historically. It's the first time since at least 1999 and potentially longer that the 'Cats have swept Connecticut in a season series and gives VU three straight Ws over UConn.
UP NEXT: The regular season comes to a close on Saturday afternoon as the 'Cats host Providence at 4:00 p.m. during a home tripleheader for Villanova Athletics. The BIG EAST Tournament starts next Saturday with both semifinals set for the afternoon on November 22.
