Making its Top 50 debut this week is @NovaVolleyball See the full rankings here - https://t.co/s6WJbuARaY pic.twitter.com/qOxmNX6Fei
— PrepVolleyball.com (@PrepVolleyball) November 2, 2015
The Villanova University women's volleyball team continued their stellar season with two victories this weekend at home, improving the team to 21-5 overall,11-2 in Big East play, and 9-0 at home.
On Friday night, the Wildcats avenged their defeat at the hands of the Creighton Blue Jays in Omaha last month with a thrilling 3-2 victory (27-25, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 19-17) that handed the Blue Jays their first conference loss of the season. The offensive production was incredibly balanced throughout the match for Villanova, as 5 Wildcats had double digit kills in the match including: Lauren Carpenter (11), Gabby Pethekoukis (13), Amanda Pederson-Henry (14), Allie Loitz (18), and Claire Crutchfield (20), as the 'Cats had a 60% match attack percentage. The defensive effort was also well balanced, as 5 WIldcats players had at least 10 digs in the match including: Lauren Carpenter (11), Allie Loitz (14), Michelle Adams (17), Emma Pettit (19), and Allison Fitzgerald (32). Fitzgerald's 32 digs were by far the highest total of any Wildcat player this season.
In the second game of the weekend on Saturday night, the 'Cats defeated arch-rival Georgetown in straight sets (25-8, 25-18, 26-24). The Wildcats were particularly dominant in the first set, where they had an 87% attack percentage and really set the tone for the rest of the match. In a much shorter match in comparison to Friday, Allie Loitz led the way for the offense with 13 kills, while Michelle Adams set the pace for the defense with 10 digs.
Despite clinching the Big East berth, the Wildcats still want to finish the season strongly, as they will take their last road trip of the regular season this weekend. They will travel to Indianapolis on Friday to take on the Butler Bulldogs then to Cincinnati on Saturday to face off with the Xavier Musketeers.