Volleyball Announces 2008 Schedule
6/6/2008 8:00:00 AM | Volleyball
June 6, 2008
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland volleyball team has announced its 2008 schedule and first-year head coach Tim Horsmon has assembled a challenging slate that features four tournaments and seven matches against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2007.
The Terps begin the season with four tournaments, beginning with the Virginia Commonwealth Tournament in Richmond, Va. August 29-30. Maryland hosts its tournament at Comcast Pavilion September 5-6. The next weekend, the Terps travel to New Orleans for Tulane's tournament. The non-conference schedule concludes in-state with a tournament at in-state rival Towson September 19-20.
Some marquee matchups in the non-conference tournament schedule include Missouri, St. John's and Kentucky, all of which made the NCAA Tournament last season.
"We are excited to get this season started and think this schedule is going to give us great balance in our non-conference and ACC schedules," Horsmon said. "The ACC should be challenging this year with some great programs returning many strong performers from last year. We look forward to seeing how our team will compete this year and what kind of move we can make in conference."
The season gets underway August 29 against Central Michigan in a tournament hosted by VCU. The Terps will also play Liberty and the host Rams in Richmond.
VCU was friendly to the Terps last season as they won all three matches to win the championship. Middle blocker Katie Usher was the tournament's most valuable player.
Maryland's home tournament has attracted top-notch talent this season as Missouri, St. John's and Kentucky are all making the trip to College Park, Md.
"Our second weekend will bring some nationally-recognized teams to Comcast in Missouri, Kentucky and St. John's. I think all of three of these teams will once again be playing in December in the NCAA Tournament and competing for their respective conference championships," Horsmon said. "This should be a great weekend of volleyball and I'm looking forward to our first weekend playing in front of our Terp fans."
After its challenging homecoming, the Terps will travel to New Orleans September 12-13 for matches against North Dakota State, Jacksonville State and host Tulane.
Tournament play concludes September 19-20 at nearby Towson University, where the Terps will face the host Towson Tigers, as well as Lehigh and North Dakota.
Atlantic Coast Conference play opens Tuesday, Sept. 23 with a weekday home match against Boston College.
The first ACC road trip follows the weekend after the Boston College match with a trip to Tobacco Road for matches at North Carolina and NC State.
The Terps are back home the following weekend for matches with Virginia Tech and Virginia before making their annual trip to Florida the next weekend to face Florida State and Miami.
The weekend of October 17-19 offers two challenging matches as Georgia Tech and defending ACC champion Clemson come to Comcast Pavilion.
The Terps face the second half of the Tobacco Road quarter the next weekend with matches at Duke, an NCAA Tournament qualifier last year, and Wake Forest.
Maryland is then home for two consecutive weekends as it concludes its home schedule with NC State, North Carolina, Miami and Florida State. The Florida State match, which will also serve as Senior Night, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8.
The Terps are at Virginia and Virginia Tech November 14-15 before traveling to Clemson and Georgia Tech the following weekend.
The regular-season finale is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 26 at Boston College.
The ACC has reduced the conference schedule to 20 matches for each team as opposed to the previous true round-robin structure that necessitated 22 matches. Due to the scheduling change, Maryland will play every team in the conference twice with the exception of Duke and Wake Forest. Additionally, the unbalanced schedule means Maryland will play nine matches at home and 11 on the road.
NCAA Tournament play begins December 4, culminating with the national championship game December 21 in Omaha, Neb.
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