SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Villanova volleyball started out the season with a bang, sweeping the Santa Clara Broncos in straight sets (25-19, 26-24, 25-16) to kick off the weekend at the Catholic Challenge.
Abby Harrell contributed a match-high 16 kills on a career-high .640 percentage and nine digs for Villanova (1-0) while sophomore middle blocker Campbell McKinnon added 12 terminations.
Multiple Wildcats made their collegiate debut in the match: Reagan McGivern (eight kills, three blocks), Ava Harris (19 assists) and Marikate Ritterbusch (start, three digs), while graduate transfer Ava Mehrten (three kills, two blocks) made her inaugural VU appearance.
Taylor Lewis and Cat Young each contributed nine kills, Alyssa Nelson led VU with 29 assists and Sophia Stalcup tallied her fourth career kill on the afternoon.
The Wildcats managed a .486 hitting percentage as a team with just six errors on 107 swings, beating out the Broncos in kills, assists, aces, digs and blocks.
"We looked very comfortable offensively today, this is a good start for us," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Our freshmen played well without first match jitters and Abby had a ridiculous offensive performance. Now we get ready for a tougher test tomorrow."
Santa Clara took the first two points of the match but the 'Cats used multiple 3-0 runs to command the lead and get up 15-10 at the first set's media timeout. Villanova's edge ballooned to nine and forced a pair of SCU timeouts, then VU had to weather a late Bronco flurry but got the necessary kills to capture the opener 25-19.
The Broncos forced an early Villanova timeout in frame two by going up 10-4, but the Wildcats pulled back within one at 15-14 after an 8-3 run. VU fell behind by four but recovered to tie it at 22-all, then staved off a set point and took three straight points on terminations to get a 26-24 victory.
Villanova was the aggressor early on in the third stanza, moving to a 12-8 advantage to force a Santa Clara break. The Wildcats moved their edge to as many as eight and cruised to the finish line, earning a sweep with a 25-16
With the victory, Villanova moves to 2-2 all-time against Santa Clara, drawing the series to even after last year's loss in California.
UP NEXT: The Wildcats will wrap up their opening weekend of the season on Sunday afternoon, taking on the host Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 1 p.m. in the finale of the Catholic Challenge.
