Nov. 5, 2010
Box Score
VILLANOVA, Pa. - It was a point-for-point battle, but the Villanova volleyball team (20-6, 8-3 BIG EAST) came out victorious defeating Notre Dame 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 26-24, 25-18) on Friday evening at Jake Nevin Fieldhouse.
Redshirt sophomore Morgan Petkovich and freshman Alyssa Anderson recorded double-doubles in the match. Petkovich smashed a match-high 17 kills and collected 18 digs, while Anderson gave out 49 assists and tallied a career-best 19 digs.
Junior Maggie Mergen and sophomore Krista Andersen connected on 14 and 11 kills, respectively.
The Wildcats combined for a huge defensive effort with five players posting double figure digs and the squad combining for a season-high 105 total, which is the second highest dig total in four sets in the conference this season. Junior Kim Maroon collected a season-best 30 digs, while freshman Mariah Henley and junior Kara Chatham posted 14 and 12 digs, respectively to go along with Petkovich and Anderson's totals.
"This was a great win for us," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "It was a great defensive effort and if we continue to play defense like we did then we are going to have success. The home crowd was phenomenal tonight and gave out great energy. This was a good win to get going down the home stretch."
Set one was tight to open with each team trading points back-and-forth. Mergen served an ace to go up 15-13 as the Irish called a timeout. Following the break, Petkovich served an ace of her own to go along with kills from sophomore CeCe Twitty and freshman Allison Williams and Villanova took a 20-15 lead. The Irish had cut the lead to just one point, 22-21 forcing the Wildcats to use a timeout and then earned set point 24-23 after a kill. An attack error closed out set one with Notre Dame earning the win.
The Irish opened the second frame with a 7-1 lead, but `Nova stayed strong to cut the gap to just two points, 8-6. Notre Dame stayed in front and forced the `Cats into their final timeout trailing 17-13. Twitty, Petkovich and Williams each found the floor for a kill to close to within 20-18 and back-to-back errors from Notre Dame tied the score at 20 apiece. The teams traded points and the Irish called a timeout with the scored tied 23-23. Maroon served an ace out of the break but an error continued the match before Notre Dame committed two errors to give Villanova a win.
The third set opened to mirror the first two with each squad trading points yet again before `Nova was able to jump out to a 12-9 lead. K. Andersen connected on two kills to keep the Wildcats in front 15-10, but a 5-1 run from the Irish closed the gap at one point, 16-15. Petkovich and Twitty connected on kills, but Notre Dame hung around and Villanova used a timeout with a 20-19 lead. After the break the Irish tied the score at 21 apiece and the teams traded points before a kill from Petkovich gave Villanova set point, 24-23. The Irish scored and Mergen smashed a kill for another set point, 25-24. The Wildcats won the third set after an error from Notre Dame.
After a 9-9 tie in the fourth set, Villanova saw the Irish go on a 5-0 run to jump in front, 14-9. After a timeout by the `Cats, they used a 5-1 run to tie the score again at 15 apiece. Petkovich connected for three kills to give Villanova a 20-17 advantage as the Irish called timeout. Petkovich found the floor again out of the break and K. Anderson smashed the ball down to play for match point at 24-17. Notre Dame extended play by one point, but an error finished the match with Villanova earning the victory.
The Wildcats will play in their final home match of the season hosting DePaul on Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
