Oct. 5, 2008
Box Score
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova volleyball team turned in its second consecutive three-set sweep on Sunday afternoon in Jake Nevin Fieldhouse. The Wildcats (11-7, 2-1) concluded their eight-match homestand by defeating Rutgers 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-16).
Freshman Morgan Petkovich led the Wildcats with 15 kills in the match, while senior Dana Tartazky connected on 14 kills with no errors to hit a .462 attack percentage.
Junior Chelsea Graman gave out a match-high 41 assists and posted nine digs as freshman Kim Maroon collected 21 digs. Junior Amy Gulyas tallied 10 digs.
"We defended the ball well today and we were able to cut down on the number of errors, which was positive," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "It was good to get a win to take into next weekend at Louisville and Cincinnati, which is a huge weekend for us."
Set one belonged to Villanova from the beginning. Rutgers called an early timeout, trailing 8-5, and Villanova used a 7-1 run to jump ahead, 15-6, and force the Scarlet Knights into their final timeout. After the break the Wildcats continued to dominate the court using a 10-4 run to close out the first set with a 25-10 victory.
Rutgers jumped out to a quick 10-7 lead in the second frame, but a kill from senior Whitney Harrington put the `Cats within a point, 12-11, and a kill from junior Elysee Studzinki gave VU a 13-12 advantage. Villanova trailed 18-15, following an attack error, but used a 7-3 run to take back the lead at 22-21, after a kill from Petkovich. Freshman Maggie Mergen served back-to-back aces and gave the Wildcats set point at 24-21. Though Rutgers threatened once, Petkovich sealed the win with a kill.
Set three was a battle of points early on, as a kill from Tartazky tied the set, 9-9. A miscue from the Wildcats put the set into another tie at 13-13, but Villanova scored four unanswered points to force the Scarlet Knights to use a timeout. After the break, `Nova jumped to a 20-14 lead after Graman served an ace. Back-to-back errors from Rutgers closed out the set and gave Villanova a 25-16 victory to take the match.
The Wildcats combined to hit .291 with just 13 errors, while holding the Scarlet Knights to a .078 hitting percentage.
Villanova will head on the road to continue BIG EAST play. The Wildcats will be at Louisville on Saturday, Oct. 11 and at Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 12. Both matches will begin at 2:00 p.m.
