Houston Volleyball Announces 2011 Schedule
Cougars Open Season With Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup
HOUSTON – Five teams that reached the postseason in 2010 highlight the 2011 University of Houston volleyball schedule released Friday by head coach Molly Alvey. In addition, the Cougars will face nine teams that finished the season ranked in the top 75, including five in the top 50. Houston will also meet four opponents during the 2011 season for the first time in program history.
“Another tough preseason schedule awaits us this season,” Alvey said. “My plan for this season was to schedule extremely tough competition for the first three weekends of play. This competition will prepare our team for our Conference USA opponents and it will put us in the best possible position to be an NCAA tournament team.”
“With this season’s schedule, we start with three tournaments that we will have to prepare and play very well in to put our team in the position to win.”
The 2011 season will open, Aug 26-27 at the Athletics/Alumni Center with the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup, featuring three teams that the Cougars will be facing for the first time in program history. In addition, all three finished in the top 75 of the 2010 final rankings. The tournament begins for UH against Lipscomb, a 2010 NCAA Tournament team, in the final match of the tournament’s first day. Houston will then face Xavier and Central Arkansas in the final day of the tournament.
“We open the season with the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup, bringing in three top 75 teams in Lipscomb, Central Arkansas and Xavier,” Alvey said. “All three teams have successful programs and are coming off good seasons in 2010. I am looking forward to seeing how we match up with these opponents early in the season.”
UH will continue the season with an exhibition match against the Israeli National Team, Aug. 31 at the Athletics/Alumni Center.
After opening the season at home, Houston will travel to Champaign, Ill., for theState Farm Classic, Sept 2-3. It is shaping up to be the toughest non-conference tournament of the season for the Cougars. They will compete against Dayton, Illinois and 2010 foe Tennessee. All three competed in the NCAA tournament and were ranked in the top 15 of the season’s final poll.
“The State Farm Classic is the perfect second tournament for us because we will continue to compete at a high level and it will make our team better, win or lose,” Alvey said.
The final non-conference tournament of the season will send the Cougars to Lexington, Ky., Sept. 9-10 for the UK Invitational. Tournament host, Kentucky reached the postseason and finished ranked in the top 60 in 2010. UH will also meet West Virginia and 2010 opponent, Loyola Marymount.
“Our final non-conference tournament will send us to Lexington, Ky., where Kentucky has been a quality tournament team for the last several years,” Alvey said. “They will be tough competition, as well as West Virginia and Loyola Marymount, as we put in our final preparations for the C-USA schedule.”
The Cougars will play a non-conference match against Lamar at the Athletics/Alumni Center on Sept. 13, before opening Conference USA play at Tudor Fieldhouse,home of cross-town rival Rice, Sept. 20.
Following the trip across town, Houston will host Southern Miss and Tulane, Sept. 23 and 25, respectively. They will then head on the road to meet Tulsa, Sept. 30, and SMU, Oct. 2, before playing two matches at East Carolina, Oct. 8-9.
UH will return home for three matches against UTEP (Oct. 14), UCF (Oct. 16) and UAB (Oct. 21), before going back on the road to play Memphis (Oct. 23), UCF(Oct. 28) and UTEP (Oct. 30).
The month of November will begin with a weekend series against Marshall, Nov. 4-5, and rematches with SMU (Nov. 11) and Tulsa (Nov. 13). The final weekend on the road will have the Cougars traveling to Tulane (Nov. 18) and Southern Miss (Nov. 20).
The regular season slate will conclude Nov. 23 with a match against Rice at theAthletics/Alumni Center.
“Once again the teams competing in C-USA will be tough competition for us,” Alvey said. “My hope for this season is that we build off of the foundation that we laid last season that allowed us to finish third in the league standings. The team faced tough non-conference opponents last season, just as we will in 2011, and used that to finish the season strong.”
The 2011 NCAA Volleyball Tournament will take place Dec. 2-17, with the semifinals and the National Championship scheduled to be held in San Antonio, Texas.
Houston finished the 2010 season with a 19-13 overall record and a 13-7 mark in C-USA play. The Cougars finished third in league action and posted the most conference wins since 1999. Lucy Charuk and Chandace Tryon went on to earn All-Conference USA First Team honors, while Charuk was named to the AVCA Midwest All-Region Team and an All-America Honorable Mention. Both will be back in 2011 to guide the team.
