The volleyball team traveled to New York and Connecticut to take on St. John’s and the University of Connecticut in Big East action last weekend. The ‘Cats dropped both matches, falling to the St. John’s Red Storm 3-1 before being swept by the UConn Huskies 3-0.

Villanova took an early lead in the first set against St. John’s on Nov. 1 when junior Chelsea Graman served an ace. The score remained close throughout the middle of the set, being tied at 15 and then again at 19. Eventually, the Red Storm came away with the 25-22 victory.

With the score tied at 14-14 in the second set, the Wildcats went on a 4-1 offensive run to pull to an 18-15 lead. A kill by freshman Morgan Petkovich put the ‘Cats ahead 24-23, but the Red Storm came right back and knotted the score at 27. But freshmen Laurie McNamara and Petkovich connected on two consecutive kills to give the Wildcats the 29-27 win.

The third set was tied at 10 when the Red Storm went on an 11-5 run. The Wildcats could not make a comeback in this set, falling 25-18.

St. John’s came out ready to take the match in the fourth set, jumping to an early 6-1 lead and holding on for a 25-16 win by St. John’s.

Tartazky led the Wildcats with 16 kills, while Graman pitched in with 49 assists. Freshman Kim Maroon led the defense with 13 digs.

The team traveled to Connecticut the following day to finish its weekend matches. Early in the first set of the match, the Wildcats saw themselves down 6-3 but went on an 8-1 offensive run to go ahead 11-7. The Huskies rebounded to tie the frame at 17, and the set remained close throughout, but in the end, UConn came out on top 27-25.

The Wildcats held an early 10-7 lead in the second frame, but the Huskies again could overtake the Wildcats, finishing the frame with a 10-4 run to get the 25-17 win.

UConn led early in the third set, but Maroon served consecutive aces to keep the ‘Cats close, as they trailed by only one point. Tartazky connected on three consecutive kills, but the Huskies pulled ahead and earned the 25-22 win and the match.

Tartazky again led the offense with 10 kills, and Graman was the assist leader once more with 26.