VILLANOVA, Pa.—The women's cross country team is headed to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2021 and the 33^rd time in program history, while the men's cross country team will be represented by at least one individual at the national championships for the 19^th consecutive year. The football team closed in on a national playoff spot of its own and the volleyball squad clinched one of four spots in this week's BIG EAST Championship.
 
Regular season competition is heating up in men's and women's basketball, while the men's swimming & diving team tallied its third straight win in a dual meet against Rider. It all made for a thrilling week in Villanova Athletics, with seven student-athletes being named to the Weekly Wrap for the period of November 10-16.
 
Men's Basketball
Acaden Lewis, Freshman, Guard, Washington, D.C.
 
Lewis is this week's BIG EAST Freshman of the Week after he averaged 11.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game as Villanova posted wins over Sacred Heart and Duquesne. He scored a season-high 19 points to go along with four rebounds and six assists in the Duquesne game after previously recording a season-high eight assists against Sacred Heart. Lewis ranks second in the BIG EAST and ninth nationally among freshmen with 5.3 assists per game this season.
 
Women's Basketball
Brynn McCurry, Junior, Forward, Sparta, N.J.
 
McCurry had career highs of 18 points and seven assists on Sunday afternoon as Villanova tallied its strongest win of the year, 84-73 at James Madison. She was 4-of-7 from the field and made 10-of-11 free throws, including making four free throws in the final 46 seconds to secure the win. McCurry added five rebounds in the game and pushed her season averages to 7.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. She scored seven points with six rebounds and five assists against Princeton earlier in the week.
 
Men's Cross Country
Charlie Moore, Sophomore, Brisbane, Australia
 
Moore is one of two Villanova runners headed to the NCAA Championships after he was an automatic individual qualifier at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional last week. In his first year of collegiate cross country eligibility, Moore finished seventh overall at the regional meet and earned Mid-Atlantic All-Region honors with a time of 29:37.9 over 10,000 meters. He was selected to the national championships along with junior teammate CJ Sullivan.
 
Women's Cross Country
Tilly O'Connor, Junior, Spring Lake, N.J.
 
O'Connor helped lead Villanova back to the NCAA Championships with her third consecutive race at the top of the Wildcats lineup. She came in fifth out of 215 runners with a time of 19:41.8 over 6,000 meters and tallied her fourth straight race with a time below 20 minutes. O'Connor earned her first career all-region honor and was one of four Villanova runners who achieved that distinction by finishing in the top 25 individually at the regional meet.
 
Football
Antonio Johnson, Senior, Tight End, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
 
Villanova tallied its first walk-off win in more than three years on Saturday when Johnson caught a 17-yard touchdown pass on the first overtimes series of a 30-27 thriller against Stony Brook. He had career highs of four catches and 58 receiving yards in the game while recording his third touchdown of the season and fourth of his career. Johnson is part of a four-man tight end group for the Wildcats which has combined for 18 receptions, 197 yards and four touchdowns on the year.
 
Men's Swimming & Diving
Nate Warson, Junior, Diver, Valley Village, Calif.
 
Warson swept the one-meter and three-meter diving events as Villanova defeated Rider, 166-132, for its third straight dual victory. The newcomer to the Wildcats this season now has four first-place finishes on the year. He posted winning scores of 319.5 on the one-meter board and 343.8 on the three-meter board against Rider. Warson came to Villanova this season as a transfer from Cal Baptist where he was a WAC Championships scorer in the one-meter event and qualified for the 2024 NCAA Zone E Championship.
 
Volleyball
Taylor Lewis, Sophomore, Outside/Opposite Hitter, Indianapolis, Ind.
 
Villanova tallied one of its biggest wins in recent memory when it defeated Connecticut in five sets to clinch a spot in the BIG EAST Championship for the third straight season. Lewis tallied a career-high 17 kills with a .406 hitting percentage in the win, including five kills in the decisive fifth set as the Wildcats tallied their first reverse sweep of the season. The regular season finale for Villanova was a day later, and Lewis contributed a match high 11 kills without a single error while posting a .478 hitting percentage. She is averaging 2.13 kills per set this season and is tied for third on the team with 244.5 points on the year.
 

 
Villanova Athletics Scoreboard
 
November 10-16
 
Tuesday, November 11
 
Men's Basketball: Villanova 94, Sacred Heart 60
 
Wednesday, November 12
 
Men's Swimming & Diving: Villanova 166, Rider 132
Women's Basketball: Princeton 73, Villanova 68
 
Friday, November 14
 
Volleyball: Villanova 3, Connecticut 2
Men's Cross Country: NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional (3^rd of 28)
Women's Cross Country: NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional (4^th of 30)
 
Saturday, November 15
 
Football: Villanova 30, Stony Brook 27 (ot)
Men's Basketball: Villanova 87, Duquesne 77
Volleyball: Villanova 3, Providence 0
 
Sunday, November 16
 
Women's Basketball: Villanova 84, James Madison 73
 
This Week's Schedule
 
November 17-23
Home events in bold and are listed first
 
Wednesday, November 19
 
7:00 PM                   Men's Basketball at La Salle
 
Thursday, November 20
 
All Day                    Swimming & Diving at Navy Invite
 
Friday, November 21
 
All Day                    Swimming & Diving at Navy Invite
 
Saturday, November 22
 
1:00 PM                  Football vs. Sacred Heart
7:00 PM                  Women's Basketball vs. Temple
 
10:20 AM ET           Women's Cross Country: NCAA Championships (Columbia, Mo.)
11:10 AM ET           Men's Cross Country: NCAA Championships (Columbia, Mo.)
3:30 PM ET             Volleyball vs. #2 Seed Xavier (BIG EAST Semifinal) (Milwaukee, Wis.)
All Day                    Swimming & Diving at Navy Invite
 
Sunday, November 23
 
3:00 PM ET              Volleyball: BIG EAST Championship Final (Milwaukee, Wis.)