Villanova, Pa. – The Villanova Wildcats closed out the regular season in dramatic fashion with a five-set victory over St. John's on senior day. With the win, Villanova finished BIG EAST play in third place and will play the No. 2 seed Marquette at next week's BIG EAST Tournament in Milwaukee.
 
Villanova and St. John's exchanged sets throughout the match, with Villanova taking sets one, three and five while St. John's won sets two and four. Villanova was paced throughout the match by its defense, recording a season high in blocks for the second straight match, this time putting up 18. The defensive effort at the net was led by senior middle blocker Allie Olsonoski who notched 14 block assists for the match.
 
Villanova got off to a fast start with Mallory Potts recording the first kill of the match. After going up 3-2, Villanova did not trail again during the set. St. John's made it close at 18-17, but a pair of errors and a kill by Potts, who finished with four in the first set, helped Nova regain a comfortable lead and win the first set 25-22.
 
St. John's evened the score quickly in the second set. Neither team could gain an edge early, but after being tied at 13-13, the Red Storm surged ahead with a 7-3 run and take the set 25-19. Senior Remy Fairchild did her part in the second set to keep the Wildcats in it, notching four kills in the set.
 
The third set felt like the turning point in the match for Villanova. It appeared St. John's was in perfect position to take control of the match when they led 24-21 and serving for the set, but the Wildcats had other ideas. A kill by Potts and back-to-back blocks, both involving Olsonoski, evened the score at 24-24. For the next six points, St. John's pulled ahead and Villanova evened the score. The Wildcats took their first lead of the set at 28-27 on a kill from Sophia Howling and didn't let the lead slip away. A St. John's attack error gave Villanova the 29-27 set victory and all the momentum.
 
After letting third set get away, St. John's did not make the same mistake in the fourth. St. John's led 20-17, but three straight Villanova points, again fueled by back-to-back blocks, knotted the set at 20-20. The Red Storm flipped the switch again and jumped right back to the lead and win the set 25-22 and force a fifth set to determine tournament seeding.
 
With third place on the line, Villanova played its best set of the match and picked up the biggest set-victory of the match, even with the shortened set. Villanova quickly jumped up 4-2 and forced a St. John's timeout. The timeout didn't change much, as Nova kept adding to the lead and was up 8-4 at the switch. St. John's made a last effort and cut the lead to 10-7, but Villanova's closed the set on a 5-1 run. After picking up the first kill of the match, Potts put the finishing touch on it as well with the kill to close it out at 15-8.
 
"It was a fantastic match," said head coach Josh Steinbach. "It was a really fun one to be a part of. I'm excited to have pulled it out and a senior day win is a big deal. Our seniors played a great match today. Allie was great, Remy played really well, Emma had a great match and Regan was really tough playing through injury. We made plays at the end of the match when we needed to."
 
Villanova's offense was paced by a multiple season-highs. Decker posted 55 assists, a new season high and her most since 62 against Marquette in 2017. Mallory Potts led Villanova hitters with 17, her season high. Going along with Olsonoski's 14 blocks, that's three season-highs in one match.  
 
Villanova's third place finish puts the team right where it was picked in the BIG EAST preseason poll.
 
Villanova will kick off the postseason against Marquette, playing the first BIG EAST semi-final on Friday at 3:30 ET/2:30 CT. That match will be available on BEDN.
 
Keep following @NovaVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram for updates and information as the playoffs approach.