South Orange, NJ – Villanova got back in the win column with a four-set win at Seton Hall on Friday night. The defense stepped up in a big way to post a season-high 14 total blocks to help the Wildcats pick up an important win to set up a battle for third-place on Sunday.
 
Villanova got off to a slow start in the first set. The Wildcats came out flat and made a variety of mistakes in the first set leading to a 25-23 Seton Hall set victory. The set was tight the entire way, with the largest lead being Villanova by three at 9-6. Seton Hall quickly tied it, and the match remained tied with the teams exchanging points all the way from tied at 18-18 to 21-21. A kill and an ace from Seton Hall put the Pirates up for good and pushed them to the first set victory.
 
Villanova slowed down again in the third set, but was still able to pull out a win. Remy Fairchild ignited a Villanova run with her first kill of the match. Howling really fueled the run with a block-kill-block sequence to stretch the lead to 9-2. The Pirates stormed back and tied the match at 11-11 after a 9-2 run of their own. Seton Hall had a chance to pull away with a 21-19 lead, but a fortunate net violation following a free ball didn't allow them to extend the lead and kept the Wildcats right in it. Another trio of errors by the Pirates pushed Nova into the lead and gave Fairchild and Sanaä the chance to finish it off with a pair of kills and give Villanova the 25-23 set win.
 
After taking the 2-1 lead, Villanova wasted no time in putting the match away with a fourth-set win, although it didn't look like that at the start of the set. Seton Hall took an early 11-4 lead and looked strong in doing so. But Villanova had no intention of playing a fifth set and rattled off a 14-4 run to not only get back into it, but take control of the set. From there the Wildcats were able to win the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
 
"Seton Hall played really hard and any time we beat them it's a good win for us, especially at their place," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "They're really tough to beat here and we're really excited to have gotten that win."
 
The offense was led by Howling's 13 kills on .370 hitting. Barnes and Potts each finished with 10 apiece. Emma Decker notched 46 assists and Regan Lough picked up 22 digs for the second straight match.
 
Villanova's next action will be the final match of the regular season, at home against St. John's Sunday at 2 p.m. The match will be preceded by senior day festivities to honor the team's five seniors: Remy Fairchild, Emma Decker, Allie Olsonoski, Myah Massenburg and Regan Lough. The match will be available on the BEDN.