Villanova, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats will take their seven-match win streak on the road for a pair of bouts with DePaul and No. 9 Marquette this weekend. The Wildcats take on DePaul in the Windy City on Friday night at 8 ET/7 CT before heading up to Milwaukee to take on their second top-10 opponent in a week with Marquette at 7 ET/ 6 CT on Saturday.
"Just another huge road weekend for us," head coach
Josh Steinbach said. "Friday we have an opportunity to clinch our spot in the BIG EAST Tournament and Saturday a chance at another top 10 team. We'll have to be at our best both nights, and I'm confident that the team is excited for the opportunities."
The Wildcats are coming off a home weekend sweep of No. 9 Creighton and Providence. The wins helped move Villanova to No. 52 in RPI, the highest the team has reached this season. The seven-match win streak is the longest since 2015, when the Wildcats won eight in a row on two separate occasions.
Villanova topped DePaul (11-15, 3-11) 3-1 at home during their first meeting on Oct. 19. Villanova brought a balanced attack with five in double digit kills, three with 11 and two with 10.
Emma Decker finished with 47 assists while Lough added 20 digs. The Wildcats have now won six straight over the Blue Demons, with the last loss in the series coming in Chicago in 2016. The Blue Demons will be searching for a win having lost five in a row, including a tough back-to-back with Marquette last weekend.
DePaul's offense is led by Brittany Maxwell with 376 kills and 3.76 kills/set, good for third in the conference. Middle blocker Donna Brown leads the conference in hit percentage at .404, one spot higher than
Allie Olsonoski who is in second at .356. Natalie Hayward and Katie Dolan have split the setting duties and Isabelle Banez has served as libero and is fourth in the conference at 4.72 digs/set.
The match at DePaul will be Friday night at 8 ET/7CT, and available on DePaul All-Access at the link on the Villanova volleyball schedule page.
Villanova then makes the trek up the Lake Michigan coast to Milwaukee for a battle with No. 9 Marquette (23-3, 13-1). The Golden Eagles have won eight in a row heading into the weekend and will face Georgetown on Friday night. Marquette topped Nova in straight sets in the first meeting this season, but the Wildcats made them work for it. Marquette won each of the first two sets 25-22 before putting the match away 25-19 in the third.
Marquette's high-powered offense leads the conference in kills, kills/set and assists. The team's 14.2 assists/set also leads the nation. The attack is led by Allie Barber's conference best 4.63 kills/set. The setting numbers are split between Lauren Speckman and Sarah Rose and Martha Konovodoff leads the defense as the libero posting 4.48 digs/set.
Saturday's match is available on Golden Eagles All-Access and set to begin at 7ET/6CT.
