With only two more weeks remaining in the regular season, the Wildcats went 1-1 this weekend at Jake Nevin Field House. After traveling through the Midwest last weekend, the ‘Cats returned home to take on Xavier and DePaul.
On Friday, Nov. 8, ‘Nova defeated Xavier, 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 27-25, 26-24). The following day, the ‘Cats fell short to DePaul, losing, 2-3 (25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 25-22, 11-15) on Saturday night.
On Friday afternoon, the ‘Cats had their first home game in nearly two weeks. Although the ‘Cats managed a win, they did have a few setting and hitting mistakes throughout the game. Xavier was up by five points or more at multiple points, but the ‘Cats dug deep and managed to get back up.
“Unfortunately, this is a match about errors and controlling errors,” Villanova head coach Josh Steinbach said. “You know we had a couple stretches in the second and third set where we made a lot of them. I couldn’t quite manage it the way I wanted us to. We found a way to get out the win and that shows character.”
Graduate setter Taylor Jakubowski put on yet another excellent performance at the Nevin. Jakubowski managed eight digs and two aces for the team. Also, she ended up pulling off 23 assists. After the game against DePaul on Saturday she is now at 400 assists for the season.
Sophomore outside hitter Abby Harrell was the highest scorer for the ‘Cats against Xavier. Accounting for 15 points, Harrell achieved 15 kills along with six digs against the Musketeers. Freshman setter Alyssa Nelson pulled off 27 assists for Nova. Freshman middle blocker Campbell McKinnon notched nine kills, as well as five blocks on Friday. The ‘Cats are now 2-0 against Xavier for the 2024 season.
On Saturday night, the ‘Cats were back home again, this time playing DePaul in a tough five set matchup. After winning the first set, ‘Nova fell short in the second and third. Then, the ‘Cats won the fourth set by three points, but struggled during the fifth to close out the game.
“DePaul is a much better offensive team. They don’t make as nearly as many mistakes,” Steinbach said. “We’re working out to do a better job on our game.”
After only being the 20th player in school history to hit 1,000 career kills, outside hitter Riley Homer added 13 to her stats on Saturday. Last weekend, she hit the monumental threshold without realizing it. Coach Steinbach mentioned to her that she was one kill away during the game against Creighton on Nov. 3.
“I had shoulder surgery last year, so I had to switch roles a bit,” Homer said. “I played through an injury, so I didn’t know I was gonna get it. Then, my parents knew actually, so my grandpa was over at the house, and they all watched the game. But I had no idea before the game.”
Freshman outside hitter Taylor Lewis achieved the highest kill count with 16 against the Blue Demons, which is also a career high for her. Nelson awarded the ‘Cats 30 assists, the highest of the night for ‘Nova. Jakubowski utilized her competitive edge to reach 25 assists and 18 digs.
Senior libero Elizabeth Feczko pulled off a season high of 21 digs on Friday. She hit 21 digs again on Saturday. Against the DePaul Blue Demons, Feczko reached the milestone of 1,000 career kills.
Looking forward to the final weeks of conference play, the ‘Cats are now 7-7 in the Big East. With an overall record of 14-11, Villanova is tied for fourth in the conference.
On Wednesday, Nov. 13, the ‘Cats are scheduled to take on St. John’s at Jake Nevin at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Nov. 16, Villanova will play Butler at 2:30 p.m. in Indianapolis.
