NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion volleyball was unable to force a fifth set against Villanova on Sunday as the Monarchs came up short, 3-1 to the Wildcats in the final match of the Old Dominion Invitational.
ODU falls to 2-6 on the season while Villanova is now 8-0. The all-time series is now tied at 1-1.
“We scrapped really well,” said ODU head coach Fred Chao. “We didn’t have good left-side production, so to be in it and actually win a set that way, that’s great for us because if we can get our left side back up, that’s where we were Friday. We had our left sides producing.”
Villanova 3, ODU 1
Sunday’s opening set was a tight race from start to finish. Tied at 12-12, a couple of ODU errors and a kill by Villanova’s Cat Young gave the Wildcats a 15-12 lead at the first media timeout. Elisa Maggi and Katie Rakoski then scored back-to-back kills, but a couple of service aces from Young and Campbell McKinnon allowed the visitors to go up 20-16. Kate Kilpatrick assisted Bryanna Jones to trim the Villanova lead to 21-19, but the next four points went to the Wildcats.
ODU trailed 5-3 early in the second set, but Madelyn Eslinger served an ace to even the score at 6-6. Emma Schelah converted an attack to get the Monarchs to within a point at 18-17, but the Wildcats put together a 3-0 run in response and would hold on to win another set, 25-21.
The Monarchs were down 7-5 in the third set when they rattled off six unanswered points, starting with a kill by Rakoski. Schelah and Wiktoria Zagumny blocked an attack attempt by Villanova’s Abby Harrell, Schelah then followed with a solo block, and Adrienne Peji punctuated the run with a service ace. Villanova stayed within striking distance, but could not catch up as ODU sent the match to a fourth set with a 25-22 decision.
Old Dominion jumped out to a 3-1 lead to start the fourth, but an 8-1 swing by the Wildcats gave them momentum at 9-4. The Monarchs refused to back down though as kills by Rakoski and Schelah and a block by Schelah and Jones had the home team back within a point at 11-10. However, the guest countered with a couple of 4-0 spurts to pull away 19-12 and a 25-14 final clinched the match for the Wildcats.
Rakoski matched her season high of 13 kills while hitting for a .409 clip. The freshman from Dallas, Texas also had two digs and recorded one block. Maggi also finished with double-digit kills, tallying 11 to go with four digs, three blocks, and two assists. LeeAnne Lowery swung for a .294 hitting percentage and contributed nine kills with four digs, two blocks and one assist. Zagumny led both teams with a match-high 31 assists and added nine digs, four kills, two blocks, and one ace to her stat line. Kilpatrick and Eslinger served two aces each.
“On the positive side, Katie did a great job,” added Chao. “She scored a lot of points for us and was very efficient. I don’t think they had an answer for her. The takeaway is that we’ve got to make sure our passing holds up. When our passing was good, we could score through the middle, and our left sides didn’t have to do much.”
Schelah led the defensive effort with five blocks, while Kilpatrick and Peji collected 10 digs each.
There were a total of 21 ties, including 10 in the first set, and 13 lead changes.
Old Dominion Invitational
Players of the Match
Match 1 – Bryanna Jones, Old Dominion
Match 2 – Abby Harrell, Villanova
Match 3 – Campbell McKinnon, Villanova
Up Next
ODU will host VCU next Friday, Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. to open the VCU Invitational. The Rams will then host NC State on Saturday, Sept. 20 and the Monarchs will make the trip to Richmond to play the Wolfpack at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 21. Additionally, Old Dominion will host Wake Forest next Saturday at 3 p.m.