VILLANOVA, Pa.- UConn volleyball had their final tune-up before the BIG EAST tournament next week, facing off against the Villanova Wildcats Saturday night at the Jake Nevin Field House.
UConn and 'Nova traded points, with the host Wildcats answering a 3-0 Husky start with a 4-0 run of their own. Abby Harrell and Campbell McKinnon each had two early kills, extending the Villanova lead to 9-5. Emma Werkmeister got UConn back in the set, with three kills and an ace. The 'Cats were locked in defensively, with McKinnon, Cat Young, and Riley Homer all contributing blocks. Grace Maria poured in an ace, bringing the Huskies level at 15-all to get Nova to talk things over. A hotly contested first set saw the teams knotted at 22 apiece. Werkmeister leading the way with seven first set kills to get the Huskies in front in the match, taking the frame 25-23.
Two early Loren Winn kills buoyed the UConn attack in the second to help the visitors go up 6-4. Taylor Pannell got involved in the second to keep the pressure on the 'Cats along with Werkmeister, stretching the lead to 11-6. Blocks from Winn and Herman and a kill from Hanna Tylska fueled a long 8-0 run to double up Villanova at 21-10. Winn and Pannell got the Huskies on the brink of a 2-0 set lead, and Werkmeister finished the job for the Huskies 25-19.
With their eyes on a third consecutive sweep, UConn took the first lead at 7-5. Werkmeister got into takeover mode, running her match-high mark to 15 kills to keep her team in front 14-10. Villanova would not go down without a battle, as Harrell had two quick kills and Taylor Jakubowski rifled in two consecutive aces to put the 'Cats in front 16-15. 'Nova went up 21-19, but UConn won a wild rally to take 3 points in a row to go up 22-21. The Wildcats staved off four match points to push the set to 27-27, but the Huskies would not be denied in their pursuit for a sweep, with Tylska and Herman putting the final touches for the third UConn victory in a row, all in straight set fashion.
Werkmeister led all players with 16 kills, hitting at an impressive .324. Harrell broke double-digit kills for 'Nova with 10 in the defeat.
Up Next: With two final matches tomorrow, both UConn and Villanova await their first round matchups on Wednesday, with a high likelihood of these teams facing one another again in a #6 vs #3 seed matchup.
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