Nov. 15, 2005

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Villanova, Pa.-The Wildcats closed out the 2005 BIG EAST regular season with a pair of games against Notre Dame and DePaul. A BIG EAST bid was on the line; Villanova had to win at least one in order to get an outright berth. If the 'Cats went 0-2, they would have to wait until 2006 to try again.

'Nova departed the Main Line on Friday, November 11 and flew to O'Hare airport before taking vans to the team hotel in Portage, Ind. two hours to the south. Upon arrival there was some debate as to exactly what time it was, since half of Indiana is in Eastern Standard Time (EST) and the other half is in Central Standard Time (CST). Once it was settled that Portage was CST and Notre Dame was EST, everyone settled in in preparation for a very early morning.

The 'Cats left Portage at 6:50 am CST to make the drive to Notre Dame. Villanova played hard against the Irish, often digging in for long rallies, but ND had the upper hand and came away with a 3-0 victory.

Villanova took advantage of the early match time (10 am EST due to a Notre Dame/Navy football game later that afternoon) and drove back to Chicago for a well-deserved nap.

Setter Jenna Link is a native of nearby Wheaton, Ill., so her parents hosted a team dinner that night. The girls feasted on home-cooked food and held an air hockey tournament as well as played ping pong and pool.

Nineteen members of the Link family showed up the next day to support Jenna and the Wildcats in their bid to earn a spot in the conference tournament. The match started at 2 pm, and an hour and a half later,'Nova found itself the no. 8 seed in the 2005 BIG EAST Tournament, courtesy of a 3-0 win over the Blue Demons.

The 'Cats will face no.1 seed Notre Dame for the second time in eight days in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday, Nov. 18 at 12:30 pm.