Sept. 27, 2002

Box Score

Morgantown, W.V. --- The Villanova women's volleyball team dropped their Big East opener on Friday, Sept. 27 in three straight sets to West Virginia. The Mountaineers picked up their first conference victory defeating the 'Cats 30-27, 30-18 and 30-22 at the West Virginia Coliseum.

The Mountaineers cruised through the first two sets taking a commanding advantage before the Wildcats came out strong taking an early lead in game three. Behind a strong defensive effort, West Virginia then stagged a tenacious comeback to send Villanova to just their second loss in eight matches.

In defeat, sophomore Kerri Sullivan (Downers Grove, Ill./South) recorded a team-high 14 kills on 33 attempts (.333 hitting percentage) while fellow classmate Katie Lanting (Loveland, Colo./Alexander Dawson School) added 10 kills. Defensively, rookie Dana Kabashima (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica) registered a game-high 17 digs while senior Leah Mathews (Poway, Calif./Our Lady of Peace) added 13.

Junior Dimitra Havriluk paced West Virginia in the victory with 15 digs and 12 kills while Stephanie Zolna added 15 kills and 10 digs.

The loss drops Villanova to 9-8 on the season and 0-1 in Big East play while West Virginia improves to 5-8 overall and 1-0 in conference action.

Next up for the Wildcats is the University of Pittsburgh on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 2:00 p.m.