Coming off a stellar rookie season, outside hitter Abby Harrell entered her sophomore season with high hopes, and she did not disappoint.
Harrell started in all 31 matches during the 2024 season and was just recently named to the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area team. This accolade is chosen by the sports information offices of 30 schools across the Philadelphia area. The Ellensburg, WA native is only the seventh Wildcat to accomplish such a feat.
With no surprise, Harrell was also named to the All-Big East team for the second year in a row after being added to the BE Honor twice this season alone.
For the 2024 season, the Wildcats welcomed six freshmen and one transfer player. Since there was a large shift in the roster, Harrell and her returning teammates had to adjust their game and set an example for the newest Wildcats.
“I think in whatever team you’re in, if one person leaves it changes the dynamic,” Harrell said. “This was a unique group and so everything brings something different to the table. It’s kind of cool to see how those pieces fit together.”
Looking back on her own rookie season, Harrell achieved Big East Freshman of the Week five times, landing her the title of Big East Freshman of the Year for 2023. She is only the third wildcat to achieve this goal and the first since 1996. Also, Harrell was named to the All-Big East Team last year, as well as the Big East All-Academic team, and ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference) Rookie of the Year.
Harrell’s individual success contributed to Villaonva’s run to the Big East semifinals. Villanova won its first postseason game in five years, defeating No. 3 UConn in the first round of the Big East Tournament in a huge 3-2 upset on Nov. 27. In the victory, Harrell notched 11 kills and 17 digs.
The ‘Cats took on the Huskies in Omaha, Nebraska after losing to them twice earlier in the season. Harrell said the victory was especially meaningful for the team, remembering last season, when Villanova ended its regular season with a 3-2 loss to UConn.
“We were hungry for the win. It felt right. I think everybody on the team wanted so badly to get that win,” Harrell said. “Our coach talked all the time that postseason is not given play, it’s earned play. We earned every single day that we played in the postseason.”
Looking ahead to the off-season, the ‘Cats are losing senior libero Elizabeth Feczko and graduate setter Taylor Jakubowaski. Both Feczko and Jakubowski were co-captains as they were two of very few upperclassmen on the team. They brought strong leadership and a fiery competitiveness to the court that helped solidify the dynamic of the relatively young roster.
The ‘Cats are scheduled to play in a few local tournaments and games in the spring. Mainly, their off-season is put in place to focus on honing their technique before they go back in action next fall.
“In the gym, we’re doing more drills, technique-wise,” Harrell said. “We’re doing more of the foundational things than building up those things that we may have seen as flags during the season. Things that as a team we’re lacking that we can get better in or as hitters, developing different shots that we think would be helpful.”
With such a large rookie class this year, and several upperclassmen leaving, the Wildcats must shift their leadership roles. Harrell is looking forward to supporting the incoming rookies, while also continuing to strengthen the current freshmen in their transition from high school to college volleyball. The Wildcats are eager to put in the work in the off-season to come out stronger for the 2025 volleyball season.
“I think the freshmen have their heads on straight, and so that’s awesome and I think I can learn a lot from them, but we can all feed off of each other and learn from each other,” Harrell said. “I think just reassuring the freshmen, and reassuring the girls that might be coming in that volleyball is a game of mistakes, failure is gonna come, you’re gonna have bad games and practices but that ultimately doesn’t define you.”
