Ball State Releases 2010 Women's Volleyball Schedule
MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State women’s volleyball team will open the 2010 season Aug. 27 when it battles The Citadel in the first match of the SIU-Edwardsville Volleyball Classic, as announced today by first-year head coach Steve Shondell who released the team’s official schedule for the upcoming season.
“Heading into my first season as head coach, this is a very challenging schedule because I am not familiar with any of our opponents,” said Shondell. “I have a lot of homework to do in preparing for the season, but I am looking forward to being able to compete with each team. As a program, we are going to take the season one match at a time and try to improve as the year progresses. We have a lot of work to do and a short amount of time to do it. Having only been with the team for three days in spring practice, we will have just two-and-a-half weeks to prepare for our first match. Getting the team used to a new system is really our main focus.”
After opening the season versus the Bulldogs, the Cardinals continue play in the SIUE Classic the following day (Aug. 28) with matches versus Indiana State and the host SIUE Cougars. The following weekend, Ball State fans will get their first chance to see the Cardinals at home when BSU hosts the Active Ankle Challenge (Sept. 3-4), which features matches versus Tennessee State, Robert Morris and Oakland.
The Cardinals will then play non-conference matches versus IUPUI (Sept. 7), at Wright State (Sept. 11) and at IPFW (Sept. 14), before traveling to North Carolina for the Tar Heel Classic (Sept. 17-18). Ball State opens its final non-conference tournament versus the host Tar Heels (Sept. 17), before playing both Temple and Appalachian State on the second day of the event (Sept. 18).
BSU opens its 16-match Mid-American Conference slate Sept. 24 with a trip to DeKalb, Ill., to battle Northern Illinois. The following night, Ball State will visit three-time defending MAC West Division Champion Western Michigan.
The Cardinals’ first MAC home match will be versus Central Michigan (Oct. 1), with Eastern Michigan visiting Worthen Arena the next evening. Ball State rounds out its first trip through the MAC West Division Oct. 7 when it travels to Toledo.
Ball State’s next five matches will be cross-division contests, starting with a trip to Buffalo (Oct. 9). BSU hosts defending MAC regular season and two-time defending MAC tournament champion Ohio (Oct. 15) and Kent State (Oct. 16). The following weekend, BSU travels to Miami (Oct. 22) and Bowling Green (Oct. 23).
The Cardinals next five matches will be division battles, while the Cardinals end the regular season and celebrate senior day Nov. 13 against MAC East foe Akron. Play in the 2010 MAC Tournament gets underway Nov. 16 with first-round action at campus sites. Tournament play continues Nov. 19-21 at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo, Ohio, with the tournament champion earning the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament which begins Dec. 3.
