Oct. 25, 2004
Box Score
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The defending conference champion Panthers continued to dominate the all-time series and posted a 3-0 win over Villanova (6-14, 1-4 BIG EAST) on Sunday afternoon at the Fitzgerald Field House. Pittsburgh (16-5, 4-0 BE) won by scores of 30-24, 31-29 and 30-23 to improve to 27-4 all-time against the Wildcats.
Villanova struggled at the outset and hit just .015 in the first game, making 10 hitting errors while registering just 11 kills. However, the Wildcats nearly rallied back to tie the match at one game apiece late in the second frame. The Panthers had gradually built leads of 20-16 and 26-23, but Villanova scored four straight points and took a 27-26 lead. Junior Megan Abbott (Jacksonville, Fla.) had a kill to start the rally and another that gave the Wildcats the lead. The teams traded the next two points and Villanova was serving with a 28-27 lead, but could not complete the comeback. Pittsburgh went ahead 29-28 and wound up winning the game on its second game point.
Sophomore Adrian Semrau (Grafton, Ohio) led the Wildcats with 13 kills on the day and classmate Jen Lalli (Media, Pa.) handed out 30 assists. Villanova displayed a typically strong defensive effort, receiving a team-high 23 digs from junior Celine Nguyen (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif.) and 12 from junior Megan Bye (Englewood, Colo.).
The Wildcats held the Panthers well under their season hitting percentage, and 24 Pittsburgh attack errors accounted for nearly one-third of Villanova's points in the match. However, the Wildcats never found their own rhythm offensively, making 23 attack errors and hitting .094 for the afternoon, its lowest percentage in the last 11 matches.
The match ended a busy week for Villanova, which had matches against Temple and West Virginia earlier in the week. Coming up, the Wildcats will host three straight home matches, beginning with a non-conference tilt against Wagner on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Next weekend, Villanova will be home to welcome conference foes Syracuse on Saturday and Notre Dame on Sunday.
NOTES: Villanova's last win against Pittsburgh came on September 9, 1998 ... Its 27 losses to Pittsburgh are more than to any other opponent in the program's 30-year history ... The Wildcats beat Temple and West Virginia in five games in its other matches this week ... Nguyen led the team with 4.23 kills and 6.08 digs during an outstanding week that saw her set career highs for kills and digs in consecutive matches ... Lalli averaged nearly 12 assists per game for the week, including 73 helpers against West Virginia, the most by a Wildcat in the last five years.
