Villanova Univeristy Athletics

Villanova

Last Match

Wildcats drop road match against Grand Canyon

9/5/2021

PHOENIX, AZ.- After an all-out battle in the first set, the Villanova Wildcats were unable to take down the undefeated Grand Canyon Lopes. Villanova drops to 3-3 with the loss and Grand Canyon improves to 6-0.

"We played much better today in a really tough environment," Villanova Volleyball Head Coach Josh Steinbach said. "I think our expectations were higher than we achieved this weekend, but I think our team believes in themselves and we are looking forward to getting better this week."

Both squads fought tooth and nail throughout the entire first set and the largest deficit was just five points. Trailing 12-7, the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run to tie it at 12 with kills from Sanaa Barnes, Riley Homer, Kiera Booth and Clare Delaplane. Villanova reclaimed the 16-14 lead with a 3-0 run and later extended their lead to 24-21 before the Lopes began to heat up. Grand Canyon scored five consecutive points to take the first set, 26-24. Sanaa Barnes and Kiera Booth combined for eight kills in the first set.

Grand Canyon took the reigns in the second set after going on a 6-0 run to lead 14-7. The Lopes would not relinquish the lead and took the second set, 25-12.

Similar to Saturday's match, the Wildcats were down 2-0 in the third set and showed some fight in the third. Villanova and Grand Canyon traded leads early on before the Lopes began to pull away with a 4-0 run to lead 12-9. Trailing 20-16, the Wildcats pounced with a 5-0 run powered by a pair of kills from Riley Homer to lead 21-20. Grand Canyon later benefitted from a trio of Villanova errors to lead 24-22. On the next serve, Kiera Booth fired a kill to cut the deficit to one but a service error from Taryn Whittingham led to the Lopes taking the 25-23 set win and the match.

Riley Homer led the team with 10 kills, her fifth consecutive double-digit effort. Belle Morgan led the Wildcats with 34 assists and Averi Salvador registered 14 digs, her second-highest amount this season.The Wildcats will play in the Northeastern Tournament in Boston, Massachusetts on Sept. 10-11 against Northeastern, Bryant and Harvard University.

Friday, September 10 at Northeastern- 11:00 AM

The Huskies begin the season 2-4 with wins over Hartford and Mercer. 

Evelyn Gonzalez leads the team with 70 kills. 

Samantha Shupe is fifth in the CAA with 8.48 assists per set.

The Wildcats are currently 2-5 all-time against Northeastern

Saturday, September 11 vs. Bryant-11:00 AM

The Bulldogs sport a 4-2 record and all wins have come in four sets or less. 

Bryant is top-three in the NEC in hitting percentage, assists, kills and blocks. 

Three members of the Bulldogs have registered at least 54 kills in six total matches (Emma McGovern, Alysa Wright and Riley James). 

Freshman Carolina Camacho leads the Bulldogs with 122 assists.

Villanova swept the Bulldogs in 2019 powered by 11 kills from Mallory Potts.

Saturday, September 11 vs. Harvard-3:00 PM 

The Crimson begin the season 1-2 with a win over Merrimack College in their most recent match. 

Jaimie Rao leads the team with 43 kills. 

Olivia Cooper has been a force in the middle with 14 blocks in three matches. 

This will be the first match between Villanova and Harvard in the program’s history.