VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova women's volleyball ended its week with a win on Saturday night, dispatching the Butler Bulldogs in five sets (21-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-13) on Senior Night at Jake Nevin Field House.
"I'm really proud of how we played tonight on Senior Night," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "We played really hard and it means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to those seniors. This is a really big win for us."
The 'Cats celebrated this year's senior class, consisting of Anastasia Galanou, Kathleen Johnson, Belle Morgan, Izzy Plummer and Maddie Schieder, in a pregame ceremony.
"I thought Schieder played great tonight," Steinbach said. "Izzy had a good day for us as well defensively, especially with that serving run in the fourth game. Belle was good in orchestrating our offense and Stas was pretty good in her time out there."
Four players totaled double-digit kills for Villanova (9-19, 5-11 BIG EAST): Tara Garvey (15), Kiera Booth (14), Rose Crist (13) and Riley Homer (12).
Morgan contributed a double-double with 10 digs and a team-high 39 assists, while Elizabeth Feczko tied for the match-high with 23 digs. Galanou brought her all-time kill total up to 10 with six in the first two sets.
The VU victory marks the eighth win against the Bulldogs all-time in a series that dates back to 2013. The Wildcats have now won six of the last seven contests between the two programs and bring the season series to a split.
Villanova jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, with five of the points coming from seniors Galanou (two kills), Plummer (one kill) and Schieder (two aces). But the Bulldogs clawed back into it, taking their first lead at 18-17 and maintaining that advantage through a 25-21 win.
The 'Cats again had a hot start in the second, with Taryn Whittingham's two aces leading VU to a 5-1 beginning lead. However Butler responded with a 5-0 run of its own, and from there on, neither team could establish a large advantage as the set included 13 ties and four lead changes. But the Bulldogs were finally able to take back control and go up 2-0 in the match.
It was another early Villanova advantage in the third, leading 8-3 and 15-6 to open the stanza. This time, the Wildcats maintained that momentum through the rest of the period, picking up a 25-19 victory.
VU was off to yet another hot start, once again going up 8-2 to open the fourth. The 'Cats continued their strong play and moved to a lead of 19-11, then got the last six points to force a decisive fifth stanza.
The fifth frame was back-and-forth, as neither side could get more than a three-point advantage. But Villanova eventually took a 14-11 lead and despite back-to-back Butler points, the Wildcats completed the reverse sweep.
UP NEXT: The Wildcats will make one final road trip, heading north to take on St. John's and Seton Hall in the last weekend of the regular season.
