Oct. 22, 2010
Box Score
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova volleyball team earned its first victory over Pittsburgh since the 2006 season on Friday evening defeating the Panthers 3-1 (25-16, 20-25, 25-15, 25-18) at Jake Nevin Fieldhouse. The Wildcats (18-4, 6-1 BIG EAST) have now won five consecutive matches.
Redshirt sophomore Morgan Petkovich and freshman Alyssa Anderson each recorded a double-double for the Wildcats. Petkovich posted 13 kills and a career-best 21 digs, while Anderson dished out 47 assists and tallied 10 digs.
Junior Maggie Mergen led the offense with 15 kills and hit .520. Sophomore Krista Andersen connected on 12 kills.
Junior Kim Maroon collected a match-high 23 digs, while freshman Allison Williams recorded five blocks in the match.
"It was good to get a BIG EAST win at home," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "It's big for us to be 6-1 in the conference at this point. Maggie hit well tonight and we made plays down the stretch when we needed to. We are looking forward to facing West Virginia on Sunday."
Villanova fell behind 4-1 in the first set before going on an 11-2 run with Anderson serving five points as the Wildcats took a 12-6 lead. With serves from Maroon- Mergen, K. Andersen and freshman CeCe Twitty each connected for kills as the Panthers used their second timeout trailing, 17-10. K. Andersen served an ace for set point, 24-16 and an error from Pittsburgh sealed the first victory. Villanova combined to hit .306 in the set, while holding the Panthers to just .097.
The Panthers got on the board first in the second frame and jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Errors plagued the `Cats as they regrouped in a timeout, trailing 18-13. After the break, Petkovich found the floor for a kill and served an ace to pull within two points, 19-17 forcing Pittsburgh to use a timeout. The Panthers scored three unanswered and played for set point, 24-17 after a kill. Villanova kept the set going with three more points, but a final kill gave Pittsburgh the win.
`Nova scored first in the third set and would not trail throughout. Twitty and K. Andersen connected for kills to extend the lead to 15-10 as Pittsburgh used a timeout. Mergen found the floor for three consecutive kills to extend the lead to 18-13 and pushed it to 21-14 as Petkovich was able to connect. Anderson recorded a kill for set point, 24-5 and a miscue from the Panthers ended the set.
The score tied five times in the opening of the fourth set, but Villanova took a 10-8 lead after a kill from K. Andersen. Mergen recorded a solo block to put the `Cats back in front, 12-11 and the lead extended to 14-11 after Mergen and Petkovich again found the floor for kills. Pittsburgh called a timeout trailing 17-14, but came out of the break to pull within two points, 19-17. Twitty recorded a kill and Maroon served an ace to stay in front, 21-17. After the Panthers' final timeout, Villanova scored four consecutive points as K. Andersen hit back-to-back kills to win the match in four sets.
The Wildcats will welcome West Virginia to Jake Nevin Fieldhouse on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
