VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Butler volleyball team earned a tough road win at Villanova with a 3-0 sweep over the Wildcats 28-26, 29-27, 25-19. With the win, Butler improves to 15-7 overall with a 7-3 mark against conference opponents.

"We entered a very tough battle tonight against a good Villanova team," Head Coach Sharon Clark explained. "It was difficult to get a handle on their hitters tonight, but we hung in there and came up with some key points at the end of games one and two."

Belle Obert and Makayla Ferguson each recorded a double-double against the Wildcats to lead Butler to victory. Obert led the team with 13 kills off 46 attempts. She hit .239 with 14 digs and three blocks to earn 14.5 points. Ferguson was in charge of the offense with 38 assists and 14 digs to earn her double-double.

"Makayla played awesome defense and sparked our play when we needed it most," Clark added. "After some trying travel to get to Philly, I'm proud of our performance tonight."

Stephanie Kranda, Kayla Bivins and Erica Stahl were key players at the net for Butler as Bivins led the team with six blocks. Kranda ended up with 11 kills and five blocks while Stahl posted four blocks and three kills in the middle of the floor.

Defensively, Butler had three players reach a double figure dig total as Jadyn Yarling joined Obert and Ferugson with 10+ digs. Yarling was all over the court with a team-high 16 digs. Butler hit .272 as a team compared to .173 for the Wildcats. Team blocks also played a factor in the final outcome as Butler totaled 10.5 compared to just five from the home team.

Butler and Villanova went toe-to-toe on Friday night with the match reaching 27 ties and 12 lead changes. The first set featured a solid comeback from Villanova which pushed the action into extra points. Obert broke a 24-24 tie and Kranda would once again give BU the advantage after a Nova killed knotted the score at 25-25.

Mary Striedl took a pass from Yarling that made the score 27-26 and an attack error would give BU a 1-0 lead as Brittany Rembert missed on her attack to give Butler the advantage.

The second set was more back-and-forth action as the two teams came together at 25-25. Extra points would come into play once again as the teams played to 27-27 after a kill from Molly O'Neil. Butler made their move with a kill from Kranda off the Ferguson assist. The match would end with a second kill from Kranda putting Butler up 2-0 at the break.

The third set was the most lopsided of evening as Butler used a 6-1 run to earn the sweep. Butler moved a 16-14 lead to a 22-15 advantage which was too much for Villanova to overcome. Stahl got the match to set point and Obert would ice the win off the Ferguson assist.

The Bulldogs will return to the court tomorrow night with a road match at Seton Hall. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m.