MILWAUKEE, Wis. – The Villanova Wildcats will descend upon the Al McGuire Center this weekend as the three seed in the 2025 BIG EAST Volleyball Championship Presented By JEEP, participating in a third straight conference tournament.

Villanova (20-7, 11-5 BIG EAST) will face the Xavier Musketeers in Saturday's second semifinal with opening serve set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern, and a win would send the 'Cats into Sunday's BIG EAST Championship title match.

ASSESSING THE FIELD    
For the third straight year, the Wildcats earned their way into a BIG EAST Tournament berth and this time will travel to the Al McGuire Center as the championship's three seed. VU will match up with against three-loss Xavier in Saturday's semifinals and with a win, they'd advance to the title game to meet the nation's No. 12 Creighton or a Marquette team that knocked Villanova out of last year's tournament. The 'Cats have faced Xavier in postseason play just once, a semifinal victory for VU in 2015. The potential championship opponents have never lost to Villanova in a postseason setting, VU being 0-3 against Creighton (finals loss in 2015 and semifinal losses in 2017 & 2018) and 0-2 vs. Marquette (semifinal losses in 2019 & 2024).

BEATING THE BIG EAST    
With this year's shrunken field for the BIG EAST Tournament (six teams in 2022-24 to four in 2025), there was less room for error in conference play. While the Wildcats fell in each of their matchups against both Creighton and Xavier, they only lost one other contest in the league slate (DePaul) while sweeping a pair of bouts against Butler, Georgetown, Providence and Connecticut. Each of St. John's, Seton Hall and Marquette were also victims of a Wildcat victory, allowing the 'Cats to finish with an 11-5 record for the three seed.

LAST TIME WE MET    
It was a mixed bag this year for the Wildcats when they took on their fellow postseason teams, accounting for some good performances but emerging with a record of just 1-4. VU took Xavier to five at Nevin in October, yet struggled in a straight set loss in Cincinnati on Halloween. Creighton swept Villanova on Oct. 11 but a few weeks later the 'Cats picked up a set win in Omaha for the first time since 2017 as CU managed its fewest points in a set on the year. Villanova toppled the Golden Eagles in the lone matchup though, totaling a season-high 15 aces and 16 blocks to secure the tiebreaker with a four-set victory.

MEET THE MUSKETEERS

• Xavier worked its way to a 25-3 overall record this year, earning the two seed with a 14-2 mark in conference after only falling to Creighton in late September and Marquette in the regular season finale.
• The Musketeers are projected as an NCAA Tournament six seed in ESPN's latest bracketology released on Nov. 12, while a different projection has Xavier competing in the Pittsburgh regional.
• X is led statistically by Emma Grace's 349 kills, Macy Hatkevich's 933 assists, Kelsey Niesen's 408 digs and 31 aces and McKinley Boehm's 121 blocks.

This postseason contest will feature stats courtesy of StatBroadcast and streaming will be available on ESPN+.