VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova volleyball team became the victors of the 2024 Wildcat Challenge on Saturday night, sweeping Rhode Island (25-12, 25-23, 25-19) for a second straight-set win in as many days.
Freshman middle blocker Campbell McKinnon was named the Wildcat Challenge MVP after putting up 18 kills on .567 hitting with seven blocks across the pair of matches. Elizabeth Feczko and Alyssa Nelson were each selected as All-Tournament, the senior captain totaling 10 assists, seven digs and an ace while Nelson contributed 33 assists and 21 digs over the weekend.
It was another well-balanced attacking day for Villanova (7-4) with nine players notching a kill, including a match-high eight for Cat Young and seven each from Riley Homer (career-high .700 hitting) and Abby Harrell.
McKinnon hit a career-high .600 with a match-best five blocks, Taylor Jakubowski contributed her third double-double for the 'Cats with 14 assists and a game-high 13 digs and Nelson totaled 16 assists to lead all players on the evening.
Marly Smith put forth her best performance of the year with a trio of kills, six digs, two blocks and a career-high four service aces while Rose Crist saw her first action of the year and added a kill.
"It's great to wrap up our non-conference with a win, we may have left one or two on the table in non-league play but we learned a lot in all of these matches," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "We're starting to play at the level we want to be playing at entering the BIG EAST schedule and I'm excited to start out with Georgetown on Friday."
It was all Wildcats from the jump, getting out to 10-2 and 16-5 leads in the first to force a pair of stoppages from Rhode Island. The 'Cats hit .400 in the frame, getting three or more kills from four players in the opener and dominating en route to a 25-12 victory.
The second stanza was far closer as Villanova couldn't maintain a lead more than four with the Rams continuing to respond, but the Wildcats regrouped and persevered for a 25-23 set two W.
Points were going back and forth in the third, neither team able to string together a run of more than three for most of the third set. The 'Cats eventually pulled ahead by four and rolled to victory, sweeping their second straight match.
The victory is Villanova's second all-time against the Rams, pulling closer to even in the all-time series.
UP NEXT: The 'Cats have wrapped up their non-conference schedule and will kick off the BIG EAST slate on Friday, Sept. 27 at Jake Nevin Field House against Georgetown.
