VILLANOVA, Pa. – Fresh off back-to-back conference tournament appearances in the last two seasons, Villanova volleyball's path to the 2025 BIG EAST Tournament was announced by head coach Josh Steinbach on Tuesday as the Wildcats unveiled their 2025 fall slate.
"We've put together a challenging non-conference schedule this year that will prepare us well for a BIG EAST slate that's as difficult as ever," Steinbach said. "We're really excited about where we are and think it'll be a fun season, but this schedule will certainly test us."
The season starts out the same way last year's did, taking part in the Catholic Challenge against Santa Clara and Notre Dame with the Fighting Irish set to host this iteration in South Bend.
Villanova will head to New York for a midweek matchup at Binghamton before returning to Jake Nevin Field House for the home opener, hosting the Villanova Classic against Fairfield, High Point and Yale from Sept. 5-7.
The 'Cats visit Temple the following Wednesday before a trip to Old Dominion for a pair of matches against the Monarchs and Delaware, then round out the non-conference slate with three bouts at the South Dakota Tournament.
BIG EAST play starts with a road trip as the Wildcats will play at St. John's on Sept. 26 before visiting Seton Hall the following day.
Butler and Xavier come to the Main Line on Oct. 3 & 4 and Creighton heads to town on the 11th after Villanova makes a Thursday trip to Georgetown.
The Wildcats trek to New England for matches against Providence and Connecticut, then welcome a pair of Midwest opponents to VU when DePaul and Marquette visit from Oct. 24-25.
October ends with a match at Xavier on Halloween and November starts with a contest at Butler.
Villanova has three of its final four regular season contests in the friendly confines of Jake Nevin Field House, visiting Creighton on Nov. 7 for the road finale but welcoming in Georgetown (Nov. 5), Connecticut (Nov. 14) and Providence (Nov. 15) to cap the year.
This year's BIG EAST Championship will be hosted by the Marquette Golden Eagles with the league's top four finishers descending upon Milwaukee from Nov. 22-23.
