HAMILTON, N.Y. – Villanova volleyball collected its third victory of the season on Friday afternoon, defeating the Princeton Tigers 3-2 in yet another five-set thriller (15-25, 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 16-14). It's the Wildcats' third straight win in the young campaign as they look to build on the momentum in tomorrow's showdown against No. 7 Arizona State.
It was a total team effort today as multiple 'Cats (3-1, 0-0 BIG EAST) turned in multi-kill performances. Freshman
Chloe Kelly paced the squad again today with 19 kills. Kelly leads the Wildcats with 53 kills on the season.
Campbell McKinnon and
Cat Young also continued their strong play as they totaled 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
Alyssa Nelson led the Wildcats in remaining major categories with 29 assists and 11 digs.
Princeton dominated the opening frame, jumping out to early leads of 10-5 and 22-13 to force Villanova into calling both of its timeouts. Though the 'Cats trimmed the deficit to eight, back-to-back attack errors allowed the Tigers to claim a 25-15 set victory.
The second stanza went back-and-forth early on as Villanova built a 13-10 lead, prompting Princeton into its first timeout before the media.
Annika Veurink made her season debut in the frame and sparked the attack, tallying three key kills to propel VU to a 25-20 second-set win and even the match.
The Wildcats carried that momentum directly into the third set, racing out to a 15-10 advantage before the media break. Coming out of the stoppage, VU extended its lead to 24-16 before
Reagan McGivern put away the frame-clinching kill for a 25-16 win. Kelly led Villanova in the third with seven kills.
The fourth frame was the most action-packed of the afternoon as both teams traded blows early and often. The Tigers were able to build a five-point advantage heading into the media timeout thanks to three kills from Jackie Onyechi. Kelly helped VU close the gap to just one (16-15), forcing a Princeton timeout with two more kills. Coming out of its timeout, Princeton responded, increasing its lead to four thanks to a 3-0 scoring run before Coach Steinbach called his first timeout of the set. Villanova scored seven of the set's final 12 points, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome as Princeton took a 25-23 victory.
The 'Cats found themselves in a fifth set for the second straight match and delivered when it mattered most. Refusing to go down without a fight, Villanova staged an astounding seven-point comeback. Kills from Kelly and Veurink, along with a clutch block from McGivern and Veurink, wiped out five match points to tie the set at 14-14. McKinnon then put the exclamation point on the 'Cats' dramatic win, dropping back-to-back service aces to stun the Tigers 16-14 and seal the match.
UP NEXT: Villanova will continue the Colgate Volleyball Classic tomorrow at 3 p.m. EDT when it faces the No. 7 Arizona State Sun Devils.
