OMAHA, Neb. – They say it's hard to beat a good team three times, and Villanova volleyball proved that on Wednesday night with a five-set win over Connecticut (25-23, 19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13) in the first round of the BIG EAST Tournament.
After falling to the Huskies in both regular season matches, the Wildcats delivered when it counts with a marathon win at D.J. Sokol Arena over the tournament's third seed for Villanova's first postseason victory since 2015.
The Wildcats were led by six different double-doubles, namely the first of Campbell McKinnon's college career as the All-Freshman Team selection totaled a team-best 15 kills, seven digs and a career-high 11 blocks, the first time all year a Wildcat has tallied double-digit rejections. Fellow first-year Cat Young contributed her fifth double-double of the season on 14 kills and 11 digs.
Senior libero Elizabeth Feczko also added her first career double-double (20 digs, career-high 10 assists) for Villanova (17-13, 9-9 BIG EAST).It was the eighth double-double of the season for each of Abby Harrell (11 kills, career-high 17 digs, seventh straight match with double-digit kills), Alyssa Nelson (team-best 27 assists and career-high 20 digs) and Taylor Jakubowski (16 assists, 11 digs).
"That's just a great team win and a big one for our program, I'm so happy for this group," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "Campbell has ice in her veins, she was amazing tonight and everyone really came up with big moments. Cat had a great match and got kills when we needed her, Alyssa got better and better throughout the match. It was a good balanced match and that's always our goal."
As a unit, the Wildcats smashed their season-high in digs with 93 on the evening, 15 more than the previous best. VU also tallied 15 blocks on the night, the highest total of the year against a team other than St. John's (16 and 14).
Connecticut used a few three-points runs to start out the first frame, but Villanova answered with eight of the next 11 to go into the media timeout ahead 15-13. The 'Cats got their lead up to seven at one point and forced the Huskies to use both timeouts and VU used a Harrell kill to secure the opener.
The Huskies jumped out to a 9-4 edge in the second stanza and moved that lead up to 15-6, inducing both Villanova pauses. McKinnon single-handedly brought the 'Cats back into it, stringing together a kill, two blocks, two more kills then an ace to cut the deficit in half. But Connecticut weathered the storm, moving on to a 25-19 win and leveling the match.
Villanova took the first two points of the third period but UConn steadily worked back into it then built up its lead for a 15-12 advantage at the media timeout. The Wildcats got the first three out of the break to even it out before the squads went back and forth, trading runs and points until Connecticut got three straight to make it 23-20. After a VU pause, the 'Cats took three in a row to punch back but the Huskies got the two they needed for a 26-24 victory.
Three straight Young kills opened up the fourth for Villanova and the Wildcats extended it into an 8-2 edge before a Husky break. The underdog 'Cats never relented, fighting through a late Connecticut rally to win 25-21 and force a winner-take-all fifth.
The decisive final stanza started out all Wildcats, going up 6-3 thanks in large part to McKinnon and Riley Homer's play at the net on both sides, but the Huskies turned the tables to lead 11-8. Villanova charged back to even it at 12, then strung three together to capture the match and keep the season alive.
With the win, Villanova moves to 24-16 all-time against Connecticut and picks up the second BIG EAST Tournament victory of the Steinbach era.
UP NEXT: For the first time since 2019 and 15th in program history, the Wildcats advance to the league semifinals where the second seeded Marquette Golden Eagles await. The match is scheduled for D.J. Sokol Arena on Friday evening with first serve set for 6:00 p.m. Eastern/5:00 Central.
