Box Score Queens, NY – Villanova (12-4, 3-2) struggled offensively and dropped it's second conference match of the season to St. John's (11-7, 3-2) 3-0 Wednesday night in Queens, NY.
The first set was tight at the start, and Villanova hung right with the Red Storm all the way through 15-14. After that Villanova struggled to pick up kills and committed a multiple attack errors to aid a St. John's run. St. John's was able to pull away and take the first set 25-18.
Mallory Potts led the way with four kills in the first set, while Villanova hit just .100 as a team.
The second set was close the entire way. Each team had chances to pull away, but the opposing side each time responded with a run of its own. In the end, St. John's was able to put together the final run and take the set 25-23. Villanova trailed 24-20 and fought back, but came up just short. The Wildcats did have five aces in the second set, courtesy of back-to-back aces by both
Maddie Schieder and later
Sarah Allman.
The third set played even closer than the second, without either team able to gain much of an advantage. However, in similar fashion to the first set, errors plagued the Wildcats and limited the late run they were looking for. St. John's went on to take the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
Villanova never found the rhythm and was limited to hitting just .194 for the match while SJU hit .305. Potts provided a bright spot for the offense, finishing with a team-high 10 kills on .348 hitting, while Barnes added seven.
Emma Decker finished with 25 assists and
Regan Lough posted 11 digs.
"St. John's played really well and we struggled with a couple of things," said head coach
Josh Steinbach. If [Efrosini] Alexakou is not the best outside hitter in the league she's pretty darn close. She was really good tonight and gave us fits. I thought we had some chances in the first and second sets and let those slip, so I'm disappointed in that."
Villanova and St. John's will meet again in the regular season finale on Nov. 24 at 2 p.m. in Jake Nevin Fieldhouse.
The Wildcats next action will take place Sunday, when they travel across-town to LaSalle for a non-conference match with the Explorers.
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