Northwestern Postseason Notes in PDF Format
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Nov. 28, 2005

EVANSTON, Ill. -- When Northwestern head coach Keylor Chan took over a team that had won just four matches in 1999 and had not been to the NCAA Tournament since making four-straight appearances from 1981-84, building a consistent postseason team seemed to be a tall order.

Not anymore.

For the third time in the past four seasons, the Wildcats are part of the NCAA Tournament field. Northwestern opens the 2005 edition of the Big Dance at 4 p.m. CT Thursday, Dec. 1, against Texas A&M in South Bend, Ind. Host and No. 6 seed Notre Dame plays Atlantic 10 champ Dayton in the sub-regional's other first-round matchup.

The Aggies (16-13, 9-11 Big 12) finished sixth in the Big 12 and seem to be the Wildcats' mirror image in this season's NCAA field.

A&M went 7-2 in its final nine matches of the season to turn a losing record on its head and reach NCAA Tournament eligibility.

Northwestern finished its year with a 7-1 stretch over its final eight matches to also finish sixth in its conference.

Overall, the Wildcats' 19-11 record gives them their best win total since 1988 (20-14) and their best winning percentage (.633) since the 1987 squad finished 23-10 (.697).

Even more special for Chan, the sixth-year NU head coach enters the Tournament just one win shy of the 100th of his career.

Sophomore Lindsay Anderson (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) is averaging 3.69 kills per game, the seventh-best total in NU single-season history. Freshman Chelsy Hyser (Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere) and junior Cassie McLaughlin (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) are hitting .306 and .305, respectively, which puts them in the top-5 of the Wildcats' single-season annals.

Sophomore Brittney Aldridge's (Hampshire, Ill./Hampshire) 117 block assists tie her for seventh on NU's single-season list while senior Christie Gardner (West Bend, Wis./West Bend East) continues to extend her NU single-season and career records with every dig she makes.