VILLANOVA, PA - The La Salle Explorer volleyball team hit the road for the first time this season and took on the Villanova Wildcats at Nevin Fieldhouse Wednesday night.  The Explorers dropped the match 3-1 to fall to 4-2 for the season, while the Wildcats kept their unbeaten streak in tact to improve to 6-0.

The Explorers took a hard hit in game one, finishing with a 30-16 loss.  In the second game, La Salle turned up on the heat on the Wildcat, and jumped out to a 5-0 lead.  The Explorers extended their lead to 8-2, before Villanova made a run and actually took the lead at 14-13.  La Salle got the lead back at 16-15, and never looked back.  The Explorers went on to claim a 30-26 win and even the match at one game apiece.

Game three saw the Explorers and the Wildcats tied at 8-8 and again at 14-14 before the Wildcats ran off four straight points to lead 18-14.  Villanova went on to claim game thre 30-20 and cruised to a 30-18 victory in the fourth an final game of the match.

The Explorers were led by sophomore Stephanie Owen (Burlington, WI/Burlington) with 11 kills, the only La Salle player to knock down more than 10 kills.  Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week Christa Dominick turned in another solid hitting performance with a .333 percentage on seven kills, two errors and 15 attempts.  Setter Caitlin Conner tallied 30 assists for the Explorers.

On defense, libero Carolyn Judge tallied a match-high 15 digs.  At the net, Dominick tallied one solo block and six assisted blocks.

Villanova's Adrian Semrau led all players with 19 kills and Alona Cherkez chipped in 18 for the Wildcats. 

The Explorers will hit the road again this weekend when they travel to UMBC to take on St. Peter's and UMBC in a tri-match at 12:30 and 3:00 p.m.