OMAHA, Neb. – The Villanova women's volleyball team was defeated by the No. 9 Creighton Bluejays 3-0 on Sunday afternoon. This was the Wildcats' final road game of the regular season.
The Wildcats fall to 15-13 and 8-8 on the season. Creighton improves to 24-4 and 16-0 in BIG EAST play.
Head coach Josh Steinbach on the match, "the team played hard today. It is tough to beat Creighton on their home floor. I thought Sanaä (Barnes) played her best match of the year and hope she can continue to play at that level next week."
Freshman right side hitter Sanaä Barnes led the Wildcats with 11 kills, hitting.348%.
Junior setter Emma Decker dished out 25 assists. She also had seven digs.
Three Wildcats had over 10 digs. Junior libero Regan Lough with 11, sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Allman with 10, and senior setter Ashley Knight with 10.
The match started off back and forth but the Bluejays had a few scoring runs to increase their lead to 7-11. Trailing 11-17 the Wildcats called timeout, Villanova came out of the timeout and slowly decreased Creighton's lead as Villanova cut it to 18-21. The Wildcats then scored six of the next eight points to tie the set up at 24. Villanova then led 25-24 but could not get the final point as Creighton tied it up at 25. The Bluejays had set point but Villanova tied it up at 26 with a kill by Barnes. Creighton had set point and again a kill by Barnes kept the set going for Villanova. But the Bluejays took the next two points to win the opening set 29-27.
Creighton got out to an early lead to begin the second set. The Bluejays led 3-8 and then went on multiple scoring runs to increase their lead over the Wildcats. Creighton took the second set 25-11.
The teams battled back and forth to start the third set. Neither team led by more than one until Creighton went on a 4-0 scoring run to lead 15-11. Villanova responded with a 4-0 run of their own to tie the set up at 15. The Bluejays then led 20-17 and the Wildcats would cut it to 21-23. But Creighton won the next two points to win the set 25-21 and the match 3-0.
Villanova will return home next weekend to conclude their regular season. The Wildcats will take on Butler on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. And they will play Xavier on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The match against Xavier will be Alumni and Senior night. Both matches will have live stream and live stats available.
