FIU College Volleyball Team -Sinisa Tomic Announces FIU Volleyball Slate for 2010
Tomic Announces FIU Volleyball Slate for 2010
The Golden Panthers will look to defend their SBC Regular Season Championship and strive for a third straight NCAA Tournament bid
MIAMI – Head Coach Danijela Tomic has announced the 2010 FIU volleyball schedule, as the Golden Panthers look to defend their 2009 Sun Belt Conference Regular Season Championship and strive for a third straight NCAA Tournament bid.
The fall slate is a challenging one, as it includes matches against seven NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago in cross-town rival Miami, Florida State, Florida A&M, Oregon, Middle Tennessee, Iowa State and Tulane. FIU posted a combined record of 5-2 versus those squads in 2009, going 2-0 in contests against Miami, 1-0 versus FAMU, 2-1 versus MTSU and 0-1 against NCAA quarterfinal participant FSU.
The Golden Panthers will take part in four tournaments to begin the 2010 campaign, first traveling to Tallahassee, Fla., for the Florida State Invitational. FIU will open the season with a pair of matches on Aug. 27 versus New Mexico State and reigning MEAC Champion Florida A&M before wrapping up the first weekend of action against 2009 ACC Champion and host Florida State on Aug. 28.
On Sept. 3-4, the Golden Panthers hit the road for the Iowa State Invitational in Ames, Iowa, where FIU will face South Dakota State, North Dakota State and the host Cyclones. The following weekend, Sept. 10-11, FIU returns to Miami for the Hurricane Invitational with matches versus Bethune-Cookman, San Francisco and local rival, host Miami.
The Golden Panthers will then wrap up their tournament schedule on Sept. 17-18 at the Tulane Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, as FIU takes on Sam Houston State, Pac-10 powerhouse Oregon and the host Green Wave.
The 2010 Sun Belt Conference slate gets underway on Sept. 24 and 25, as FIU hosts Denver and North Texas, respectively, at the U.S. Century Bank Arena. On Oct. 1-2, the Golden Panthers hit the road for contests versus 2009 SBC Tournament Champion MTSU and rival WKU, before returning home for a match-up versus Florida Atlantic (Oct. 8) and re-matches with MTSU (Oct. 15) and WKU (Oct. 16).
FIU will then embark on a five-match road swing, traveling to Arkansas for contests versus Arkansas-Little Rock (Oct. 22) and Arkansas State (Oct. 24), and visiting Alabama for matches with South Alabama (Oct. 29) and Troy (Oct. 30). The Golden Panthers close out the road trip with a short journey to Boca Raton, Fla., on Nov. 2 for a re-match with FAU before returning to the friendly confines of the U.S. Century Bank Arena on Nov. 5 and 7 as FIU hosts ULM and Louisiana, respectively.
The Golden Panthers will play their final non-conference match in Ft. Myers, Fla., on Nov. 9 versus Florida Gulf Coast and then wrap up the regular season at home with a pair of league contests against Troy (Nov. 12) and South Alabama (Nov. 13) before traveling to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for the SBC Tournament on Nov. 18-20.
NCAA Championship action is slated to begin on Dec. 2-5 with first and second round play at campus sites to be determined, while NCAA Regional competition is set for Dec. 9-12 at one of four sites: Bank of America Arena (University of Washington), Rec Hall (Penn State University), Gregory Gymnasium (University of Texas), University of Dayton Arena (Dayton, Ohio). The 2010 NCAA Final Four will be held in Kansas City, Mo., at the Sprint Center on Dec. 16 and 18.
