Sept. 17, 2004

EVANSTON, Ill. - Despite taking on the 13th ranked team in the nation with a shorthanded lineup consisting of just seven players for much of the match, Villanova (3-5) produced a valiant effort against Stanford (6-2) in its second match of the day in the Northwestern Wildcat Classic at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Cardinal hit .340 as a team in the match and defeated Villanova by scores of 30-21, 30-23 and 32-30.

The Wildcats were unable to keep pace with a Stanford offense that made just14 attack errors in the entire match. The Cardinal came out firing and hit .357 in the first game to establish control of the match. Villanova, meanwhile, made 21 attack errors in the first two games and fell behind 2-0 despite actually having one more kill than Stanford in those games.

Freshman outside hitter Kacy Sellers (Battle Creek, Mich.) had 13 kills to lead three Wildcats in double figures. Junior defensive specialist Megan Bye (Englewood, Colo./JK Mullen) became an important part of the offense in the smaller lineup and responded with a career-high 10 kills while making just three attack errors. Sophomore Adrian Semrau (Grafton, Ohio) also had 10 kills and led the squad with five total blocks. Freshman setter Stephanie Olsen (Port Orchard, Wash.), who was named BIG EAST Rookie of the Week earlier in the week, dished out 37 assists while adding four kills and a pair of blocks.

Stanford had five different players with at least three total blocks and had 15.0 team blocks for the match. Ogonna Nnamani was an unstoppable force for the Cardinal with 23 kills (.500 hitting percentage) and five blocks.

Villanova will wrap up the two-day tournament on Saturday with a match against Western Kentucky. The Lady Toppers, out of the Sun Belt Conference, entered the weekend with an 8-0 record before being defeated 3-1 by Stanford in its first match of the tournament.