VILLANOVA, Pa. – In front of a raucous crowd of more than 1,200 fans at Jake Nevin Field House on Friday night, Villanova volleyball outlasted the Yale Bulldogs in a five-set thriller (28-26, 25-22, 20-25, 17-25, 15-9) on the Main Line.
Abby Harrell once again paced Villanova (3-0) with a double-double on a match-high in both kills (20) and digs (career-high 17). Campbell McKinnon totaled a career-best 19 terminations on .452 hitting while Cat Young added her own double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs.
Ava Harris contributed a career-best 31 assists, Lola Buck-Taylor added 13 digs and Taylor Lewis led the match at four blocks, helping the Wildcats to their first 3-0 start to a season since 2018.
"That's a gutty win. Yale is very composed and very good so to come back in the fifth like that, we showed some heart and guts," head coach Josh Steinbach said. "It's nice to have somebody like Campbell who can take over a match like that."
It was a back-and-forth beginning to the match in set one as the sides exchanged runs the entire time up through a deadlock at 25-all when the Wildcats took three straight points to grab the opening period at 28-26.
Frame two began with a strong Villanova start, going up 7-3 before Yale battled back and secured an 11-10 edge. The 'Cats took nine of the next 14 to wrest back control and then withstood a few Bulldog strings to go up two to nothing with a 25-22 victory.
The third stanza featured the same action as the first with neither side able to pick up an advantage more than two until the Bulldogs went up 19-16 and stormed to a 25-20 win.
Yale broke an 8-8 tie in period four with a six-point run to blow the frame open, advancing to a 25-17 victory and a decisive fifth set.
The turning point of frame five was a 3-0 Villanova run that ended in a two-point edge which the Wildcats held and expanded on after the media timeout all the way to a 15-9 win and 3-0 record.
With the victory, the 'Cats move closer to even in the all-time series with Yale at 4-5 historically versus the Bulldogs.
UP NEXT: The Wildcats are back in action in less than 24 hours, taking on the Fairfield Stags at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon from Jake Nevin Field House.
