For the Notre Dame women's volleyball team, the Joyce Center was a utopia, a scene of absolute perfection. It was the Boston Garden for Larry Bird, Cameron Indoor for the Duke Blue Devils, and Bronco Stadium for Boise State football all wrapped into one.
Since 1990, Irish fans had brought their green hats to the Joyce Center to watch Notre Dame go streaking. For 74 straight home games, the Irish didn't just fight, they dominated in a way no volleyball team had ever dominated. On top of that, the Irish had never lost a conference game at home since joining the Big East in 1995.
That is, until the Boston College volleyball team waltzed into South Bend last Sunday.
Coming off a very disappointing run of three losses in four games, including one to Big East bottom-feeder Seton Hall, the Eagles went into Joyce Center last Sunday in desperate need of a win to keep their hopes of reaching the Big East tournament alive. Thankfully, they played the best they have all season, torching Notre Dame on their home turf in three games by the score of 30-14, 30-22, 30-28.
The Eagles came out firing on all cylinders, looking like the team they were when they rattled off 10 straight wins earlier this season. They flew out to a 21-8 lead before Irish fans could blink and ended the game not too long after on a Verena Rost service ace to take the game, 30-14. Rost led all Eagles in the match with 36 assists.
Notre Dame fought to keep its home-winning streak alive and rebounded in game two, taking a 7-4 lead to open up the game. But that's about as much breathing room as the Eagles would allow the Irish. BC scored four straight points to take the lead, led by a kill and a block by sophomore Shardai Davis, and they never looked back, cruising to a 30-22 win. Davis finished the match with seven block assists and one block solo, which led the team.
In game three, down two games to none, the Irish once again came out strong. They broke out to an 11-5 lead, bringing the Irish faithful to their feet in hopes that they would be able to see a Red Sox-esque comeback at the hands of the Eagles. But the Eagles refused to let that happen. The game would end up tied six times, the last time at 25, and BC went on go on to win 30-28 to sweep the match.
"It was such an amazing game," said sophomore standout Morgan Woodcock. "We are in a conference where anybody can beat any team at any time, and it was so huge for us to go in there and get a win."
With the win, BC moved to 18-11, 4-4 in the Big East. With the Big East championship only two weeks away, BC, tied for fifth in the Big East, now controls its own destiny.
But no matter what happens, the 2004 Eagles will always have the memory of being the team to finally break one of the longest streaks in college sports.
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