Box Score Nov. 13, 2016 Box Score | 
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Villanova, Pa. - The Villanova Wildcats dropped a BIG EAST Conference match to the Butler Bulldogs 25-20, 25-21, 25-23, Sunday afternoon at Jake Nevin Field House.
The match was the senior day and the home finale, as Michaela Berendt (Olympia, Wash./Olympia), Claire Crutchfield (Falls Church, Va./Bishop O'Connell) Jackie Greenberg (Avon, Conn./Avon) and Makenzie Northrup (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) were all honored for the contributions to the Villanova volleyball program.
Crutchfield (13), Allie Loitz (Bonita Vista, Calif./Bonita Vista) (9), Darcy Wolf (Allentown, Pa./Central Catholic) (7), and Amanda Pedersen-Henry (Murrieta, Calif./Vista Murrieta) led the offense in kills for Villanova.
Defensively, freshman libero Regan Lough (Riverside, Calif./Martin Luther King) dug 16 Bulldog attacks, while Emma freshman setter Emma Decker (LaGrange, Ill./Nazareth Academy) added 11.
Butler's Anna Logan and Whitney Beck connected on 13 and 11 kills, respectively.
The Bulldogs jumped to a 14-9 lead early in the opening frame. Following a Villanova timeout, the Wildcats cut the deficit to just one at 18-17. Butler would not give up the lead, going on a 7-3 run to win the first set.
Similar to the first set, the Bulldogs took an early lead in the second frame, forcing an early Villanova timeout at 11-5. The Bulldogs extended their advantage to 10 at 22-12. The Wildcats would immediately go an impressive 8-0 to get back into the match at 23-20, featuring kills from Crutchfield, Wolf, Pedersen-Henry, along with several Bulldog errors. Butler was forced to call both of their timeouts in the run, and regrouped to win the last two points of the match to win the stanza 25-21.
Butler jumped to an early lead in the final set, but the Wildcats slowly clawed back into the match. After Villanova called a timeout with the Bulldogs leading 18-13, and responded with an 8-3 run to tie the match at 21-21. Butler would go on a 3-0 run to reach match point, the Wildcats earn an ace and kill by Crutchfield to make it a 24-23 match. The match would end on the next play, as the Bulldogs would register a kill to win the match.
Next weekend, the Wildcats head to Providence on Friday night, have a travel day on Saturday, and take on Creighton on Sunday afternoon to round up the regular season schedule.
