UC Irvine Women's Volleyball Team Announces 2010 Schedule
UC IRVINE UNVEILS 2010 SCHEDULE;
ANTEATERS TO FACE EIGHT NCAA REGIONAL TEAMS
IRVINE, Calif. --- The UC Irvine women’s volleyball program will face eight teams that qualified for the 2009 NCAA Tournament this fall. UCI will also play seven dates in the Bren Events Center, announced head coach Paula Weishoff.
The Anteaters open the season with eight consecutive road games. The team travels to Pullman, Wash. to face the host Cougars, a 2009 NCAA postseason team, Idaho and Weber State (Aug. 27-28).
UCI then takes on Stanford, which advanced to regional action, and Marquette at Stanford (Sept. 2-3) before traveling to Honolulu, HI (Sept. 9-11). In the Hawaii Classic, UCI faces second-round qualifier, Saint Mary’s and the Rainbow Wahine, who reached the semifinals of the national championship last season. UCI will cap the weekend against San Diego State.
The team opens the home portion of the schedule against San Diego, Sept. 14, and then hosts the Asics Challenge with matches at both Crawford Hall and the Bren Events Center, Sept. 16-18. UCI kicks off tournament action against Liberty (Sept. 16) and then tackles UCLA, who advanced to the second round last year.
USC, also a second-round qualifier, travels to UCI (Sept. 21) before the Anteaters open Big West Conference action against Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 24-25) at the Bren Center. Following a trip to Pacific and UC Davis (Oct. 1-2), the team returns to take on UC Riverside (Oct. 5) and Loyola Marymount (Oct. 8) in a non-conference match-up.
UCI continues the schedule with four straight on the road at Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge (Oct. 15-16) prior to making its return trip to meet the Gauchos and the Mustangs (Oct. 22-23).
Following a pair of home matches against the Aggies and the Tigers, (Oct. 29-30), UCI makes its final road trip of the regular season when the Anteaters take on the Highlanders (Nov. 6) and Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 12).
The team will conclude its schedule with four home matches against Cal State Northridge (Nov. 13), Long Beach State (Nov. 18), Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 19) and Akron (Nov. 27).
Weishoff is in her second season at the helm of the women’s volleyball program. Last season, she led UCI to 22-8 overall and 11-5 conference marks. The team’s eight losses are the fewest in program history since the 1978 and Weishoff also guided the Anteaters to a program-best .733 win-loss percentage.
The team returns 12 letterwinners and seven upperclassmen, including AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans, Kari Pestolesi (Huntington Beach/Edison HS) and Juliane Piggott (Newport Beach/UCLA). Also returning to the team is All-Big West Freshman Team libero, Kristin Winkler (Los Altos/St. Francis HS).
