PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – A trip to North Philadelphia ended the same way every match has so far this season for Villanova volleyball as the Wildcats took down Temple in straight sets (25-13, 28-26, 25-15) at McGonigle Hall on Wednesday afternoon.

Abby Harrell totaled a match-best 11 kills for Villanova (6-0) on .435 hitting while Reagan McGivern added a career-high nine terminations and both Campbell McKinnon and Taylor Lewis contributed eight kills.

Alyssa Nelson put forth a double-double of 19 assists and 11 digs to lead the match in both categories and Mina Diggs saw her first career collegiate action with two digs on the day.

"It's good to win rivalry games, we will celebrate a win down here any time we can get it," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "I really liked our composure in the second set. If there's a good thing for us to learn it's that on the road, loud crowd, tight set, we were able to rebound, respond and win the set so that's important to experience going forward."

It was a dominant first frame and start to the match from the Wildcats, who stormed out to an 8-3 edge to force an early Temple timeout and used separate five and six-point strings to cruise to a 25-13 victory and control of the match.

The Owls turned things around in the second to go up 15-13 at the media timeout, but the 'Cats answered by chipping away to steadily tie then lead on the scoreboard. With Villanova just a point away from ending the frame Temple made a late push by staving off three straight and five total set points, but VU eventually strung two together to pick up a 28-26 win and two-set advantage.

The third period was much like the first as Villanova took an early edge thanks to a seven-point run and did nothing but build on that, finishing off the outing with a 25-15 victory for a sweep of the match.

The victory means six straight wins over Temple for the Wildcats, who haven't lost to the Big 5 rival since September 16, 2016.