VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova women's volleyball team fell to the No. 19 Marquette Golden Eagles 3-1 on Friday night at Jake Nevin Field House. The Wildcats took the opening set but it wasn't enough to beat Marquette.

The Wildcats dropped to 13-12 and 6-7 in the BIG EAST Conference. The Golden Eagles improved to 20-6 and 11-2 in conference play.

Head coach Josh Steinbach on the match, "Marquette played really well. They are very good. That is what we are striving to be so we have just got to be a lot better in the things that we do well. But tomorrow is another day. Looking forward to getting after it with DePaul and that is the biggest match of the week for us."

Junior middle blocker Allie Olsonoski led the Wildcats with nine kills while hitting .421. She also had three blocks and five digs.

Junior setter Emma Decker recorded 25 assists and one service ace.

Junior libero Regan Lough had 18 digs and two service aces.

After the teams trading the first four points to start the match, Villanova went on a 4-0 run to lead 6-2. Marquette would slowly climb back to tie the match at 10. The teams would continue battle back-and-forth with the Wildcats leading 16-14. Villanova would continue to increase their lead to 20-16. Marquette would cut it to 23-21 Villanova but wasn't enough to overcome the Wildcats. Villanova won the opening set 25-21.

Marquette jumped out to an early lead of 10-5 to start the second set. The Golden Eagles continued to increase their lead to 20-10 over the Wildcats. Villanova couldn't overcome the early deficit as Marquette won the second set 25-14.

The third set was back and forth from the get go. Marquette went on a series of runs at the start of the set to lead 10-7.  The Wildcats would trail 10-12 and then 15-16. But the Golden Eagles went on a 9-0 scoring run to take the third set 25-15.

The fourth set started off similar to the second set with Marquette getting an early lead. The Wildcats trailed 10-4. Villanova would slowly cut into the Golden Eagles' lead but was not able to catch up as Marquette would win the set 25-17.

Villanova returns to action Saturday night against the DePaul Blue Demons at 8:00 p.m. at Jake Nevin Field House. Live stats and live streaming will be available for the match.