UTSA Volleyball Team Unveils 2011 Schedule On Monday

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UTSA Volleyball Team Unveils 2011 Schedule On Monday

SAN ANTONIO – UTSA head volleyball coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff unveiled her program's 2011 schedule on Monday. The slate features 10 home matches, seven tilts against teams that finished among the top 75 in RPI a year ago and a trio of 2010 NCAA Tournament teams.

"I'm excited about it being a very competitive schedule," said Neugebauer-Groff, who guided the Roadrunners to the Southland Conference Tournament title last fall. "We set up the schedule to include more regional opponents to prepare us for another run at the postseason."

UTSA begins its campaign at the Texas A&M Invitational from Aug. 26-27 in College Station, where it will face the host squad and Creighton, a club that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Roadrunners then will travel to Houston for the two-day Rice Invitational (Sept. 1-2), where they will play Houston Baptist, Georgia Tech and Rice. The Sept. 2 meeting with the Yellow Jackets will be the first in the program's history.

UTSA then opens its home schedule with a pair of non-conference tilts against West Virginia (Sept. 4) and Prairie View A&M (Sept. 6).

Three days later, the Birds head to the Pioneers Classic (Sept. 9-10) for matchups with Denver, Drake, UC Davis and Missouri, a team that advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament a season ago. It will be UTSA's first-ever meeting with UC Davis and Missouri and second all-time matchup against both Denver and Drake.

The Roadrunners will compete in the Texas Invitational the following weekend (Sept. 16-17) in Austin against SMU, Santa Clara and the host squad, which swept the Roadrunners in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season before advancing to the national semifinals.

UTSA begins Southland play on the road in back-to-back matches at I-35 rival Texas State (Sept. 22) and two days later at UT Arlington.

The Birds return home to host Sam Houston State (Sept. 29) and Stephen F. Austin (Oct. 1) before hiitting the road once again for two matches at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Oct. 4) and McNeese State (Oct. 8).

The Roadrunners begin their longest home stand of the season on Oct. 13 with four league contests, beginning with Southeastern Louisiana.  Two days later, UTSA will match up with Nicholls before hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Oct. 19) and Lamar (Oct. 22).

The Birds then will return to the road for four consecutive matches, beginning with Northwestern State on Oct. 27. Two days later, UTSA will play defending Southland Regular Season Champion Central Arkansas before finishing out the road trip with tilts at Sam Houston State (Nov. 3) and Stephen F. Austin (Nov. 5).

UTSA will wrap up the regular season with a pair of home matches against Texas State (Nov. 10) and UT Arlington (Nov. 12).

The Southland Tournament is slated for Nov. 18-20 in Conway, Ark., and the NCAA Volleyball Championship will be played at the Alamodome from Dec. 15-17.