CHICAGO, Ill. –  On Friday night Villanova volleyball made itself one of just two unbeaten teams in the BIG EAST this season, taking down the DePaul Blue Demons in four sets (25-21, 25-13, 22-25, 25-19) at McGrath-Phillips Arena.

The Wildcats dominated the match in nearly every category, outpacing the Blue Demons in points (by 15), aces (seven to three), kills (by nine), blocks, assists and digs.

The scoring came across the board for Villanova (10-4, 3-0 BIG EAST) with four players tallying double digit kills and six over six, led by Abby Harrell's third double-double of the season (12 kills and 11 digs). Riley Homer (season-high in kills), Tara Garvey and Cat Young each totaled 10 terminations for VU.

Alyssa Nelson contributed the fifth double-double of her career including a match-high 21 assists and career-best 15 digs as fellow setter Taylor Jakubowski reached 2,000 career assists with 20 on the night.

Freshman libero Lola Buck-Taylor amassed a career-high with 14 digs on the day and middle blocker Campbell McKinnon led the match at four blocks.

"We haven't won here since 2018 so it feels good to get one," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "We passed and defended really well, plus we got some scoring from lots of different arms."

Villanova started out the match hot with a 10-6 lead, partially thanks to service aces from four different players in their first visits to the service line. DePaul came right back into it and got its lead to two where it stayed until 18-16, then a 5-0 VU stretch forced a DPU break.

With the Blue Demons battling back to seemingly have the first set within two, a challenge from Steinbach was successful and helped his side to a W when one more point gave Villanova the opener 25-21.

The second period saw absolute domination from the visiting side, going down 3-1 originally but storming their way to double-digit leads thanks to strong defense and a variety of hitting options en route to a 25-13 rout.

DPU got its first extended edge of the match in the third, going up four before the first VU pause and extending it to six to force Villanova's final timeout of that game. The Wildcats rattled off a run of their own to force a Blue Demon timeout at 23-21 and despite Villanova staving off a set point, DPU got the two it needed to extend the night.

The 'Cats had all the momentum to begin the fourth as DePaul lost back-to-back challenges right away and VU took advantage, jumping out to an 11-6 early edge. Homer was critical for her side in the fourth, tallying three kills and two blocks in the period as the Wildcats finished the match with a 25-19 fourth.

Villanova's win in the matchup snapped a six-match DePaul winning streak and extended VU's all-time edge over the Blue Demons to 20-8.