LADY VOL VOLLEYBALL ANNOUNCES 2011 SCHEDULE
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee volleyball team has put together one of the most challenging schedules in the nation as it released its slate for the upcoming 2011 campaign on Friday. The Lady Volunteers will face 11 opponents that reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
“We have two goals when we put our schedule together every season,” UT Head Coach Rob Patrick said. “First, we want to use our non-conference schedule to prepare us for success in our SEC matches. Second, we want a schedule that will help us at the end of the season in terms of our RPI so that we can better position ourselves for the NCAA Tournament.
“After having a really young team last year with three freshmen and two sophomores on the court quite a bit, we feel like we have a pretty experienced team and that allowed us to put together an even more difficult schedule than usual. We will face at least one, if not two, NCAA Tournament teams in every tournament we play in this season.
It is important that we have those consistent challenges early in our schedule so that we can learn never to take a match off. The goal is to prepare us for SEC play when any team can win on any given day. We have to be ready to play every single match and, hopefully, our non-conference schedule will teach us that important lesson.”
Coming off their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in the past seven seasons and a year-end ranking of No. 24 in the nation, the Lady Volunteers will play a total of 30 regular-season matches, including 13 at home at Thompson-Boling Arena where they have put together a dominating 36-7 record over the past three seasons.
UT will take on 20 different opponents during the 2010 campaign, including five that finished the season either ranked or receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll as well as 11 that reached the NCAA Tournament.
The Orange and White will christen the 2011 campaign by hosting the ninth annual Comcast Lady Vol Classic, August 26-27 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee will welcome Ohio, Villanova and Maryland to Rocky Top for the two-day competition. The Lady Vols will kick off the season against the Bobcats at 7 p.m. on Friday before playing a double-header on Saturday with a 10 a.m. contest against the Wildcats and a 7 p.m. night-cap against the Terrapins.
“Our fans like to see high-level volleyball, so we are bringing in three NCAA-Tournament caliber teams to open the season,” Patrick said. “Maryland is an up-and-coming ACC team that is coming off one of its best seasons in a long time. Villanova is another team that has had a lot of success recently as well, finishing with a 23-7 record last season. Finally, Ohio got to the second round of the tournament last season after playing us down to the wire in a great five-set match at their place earlier in the year. All three teams are well coached and return a lot of players, so it should be a very high level tournament.”
Following their lone home tournament of the year, the Lady Vols will make their second trip to the Illinois State Farm Classic in the past five years after making the trek north in 2007. UT will take on the host Illini at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Sept. 2, before playing Dayton and Houston the following day at noon CT and 5:30 p.m. CT, respectively. Illinois advanced to the Elite Eight last year, while the Flyers made it to the second round.
Tennessee will then close out the tournament portion of its schedule at Virginia Tech on Sept. 9-10 in Blacksburg, Va. While there, the Big Orange will take on Seton Hall at 5 p.m. on Friday and American University and the host Hokies at 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, on Saturday. American took UCLA to five sets in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in 2010.
From there, the Lady Vols will then return home to open Southeastern Conference play against Georgia and Auburn on Sept. 16 and 18, before hitting the road in four of the next five weeks. The Big Orange will close out its non-conference slate with its annual rivalry match against Louisville with a road showdown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
Tennessee will then close out the season with eight consecutive SEC matches, highlighted three straight home contests to finish off the regular season. UT will host Arkansas, LSU and Kentucky at the end of the year.
UT returns nine letterwinners from last year’s squad, including All-SEC First Team member Kayla Jeter and SEC All-Freshman honoree Kelsey Robinson. The team will look to use the challenging schedule to earn its seventh berth into the NCAA Tournament in the past eight seasons. The postseason will begin in early December at various campus sites around the country, while the semifinal and championship matches will take place at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 15 and 17, respectively.
For the most-up-to-date information about Tennessee volleyball, visit www.UTLadyVols.com/volleyball and be sure to follow @LadyVol_VBall on Twitter.
