VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova volleyball fought through a thrilling five-set battle on Friday night, outlasting St. John's (27-25, 11-25, 25-20, 14-25, 15-10) inside Jake Nevin Fieldhouse to improve its home record to 6-1 and secure a hard-fought BIG EAST victory.
Abby Harrell and
Campbell McKinnon combined to spearhead the Wildcat attack with a team-leading 13 kills each, with Harrell notching a double-double with 13 digs and adding a service ace, while McKinnon added four blocks.
Taylor Lewis provided more offense, tallying 11 kills and four blocks, and
Alyssa Nelson dished out 43 assists to direct the 'Cats offense.
Mina Diggs anchored the back row with a team-high 20 digs, matching St. John's Rashanny Solano Smith for the match high, while
Cat Young contributed 12 digs and three blocks.
St. John's jumped out to an early lead in the opening frame, taking advantage of a 6-0 run behind a Carola Tesoro service ace and a Chloe Bell kill to build a 7-2 cushion that forced an early Villanova timeout at 9-4. The Red Storm then expanded their advantage to seven points twice, first at 12-5 and again at 15-8 heading into the media timeout. Behind kills from Harrell and McKinnon alongside an
Annika Veurink block, Nova used a 6-2 surge to trim the deficit to two at 19-17 and force a Johnnie timeout. St. John's pushed back to bring up set point at 24-22 before VU mounted a dramatic late rally thanks to two Harrell kills and two St. John's attack errors. Harrell then dropped in a service ace to seal the 27-25 opening-frame win for the Wildcats.
St. John's responded in the second frame, opening on a 12-0 run fueled by three Maggie Carcillo service aces and three kills from Bell to build a commanding lead. Veurink halted the surge with two straight putaways, but the Red Storm maintained their momentum to hold a 15-4 advantage at the media break. Villanova generated brief offense behind late putaways from
Reagan McGivern, Lewis, and Young, but the Johnnies remained in the driver's seat throughout the set and cruised to a 25-11 victory, evening the match at 1-1.
St. John's would build another early lead in the third set at 8-3 before Villanova responded with a 7-0 scoring run behind four McGivern kills and three Red Storm attack errors to surge ahead 10-8. The Wildcats continued to build momentum with Diggs at the service line, extending their lead to 15-11 at the media break before a block from Lewis and McKinnon made it 16-11. SJU was able to pull within three, but kills from Lewis and McKinnon kept the Red Storm at bay. After a brief push from SJU late in the set, Young delivered a clutch putaway off a feed from
Marikate Ritterbusch to lock down the 25-20 victory and give Nova a 2-1 match advantage.
St. John's used another fast start in the fourth set, assembling a 6-0 run behind three kills from Tesoro and two from Bell to build an early 9-3 advantage and continued to build momentum, extending the lead to 15-5 heading into the media break. Villanova attempted a late rally sparked by
Selah O'Connor coming off the bench and dishing assists to Harrell,
Loren Winn, and Young, but the Johnnies were able to close out the frame 25-14 thanks to yet another Bell kill and tie the match at two apiece.
The 'Cats took total control early in the decisive fifth set as they jumped out to an early 7-1 lead highlighted by three McKinnon kills to force the Red Storm to burn both of their timeouts. St. John's responded out of its second timeout, answering the Villanova momentum by going on a 5-2 run that forced a Wildcat timeout. Coming out of their timeout, Nova rose to the occasion of the high-stakes fifth set as a Ritterbusch ace restored a comfortable lead at 12-7 before Diggs dropped in another ace to bring up match point at 14-8. After the Johnnies staved off two match points, McKinnon put the exclamation mark on the victory with a match-ending kill off a set from O'Connor to cap the 15-10 set win and 3-2 match victory.
UP NEXT: Villanova concludes its four-match homestand tomorrow night as the Seton Hall Pirates make the trip to Jake Nevin. First serve is set for 7 p.m. EDT.
