Volleyball Unveils 2010 Schedule
Monday, July 26, 2010 | Volleyball
At least 12 meetings with teams that participated in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and 15 home matches highlight the 2010 University of Florida volleyball schedule, UF head coach Mary Wise announced Monday.
The Gators are coming off a 25-6 record in 2009, extending the nation's longest streak of consecutive 25-win seasons to 19. Florida advanced to its 18th NCAA regional semifinal in the last 19 years and finished among the nation's top-15 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll for the 19th year in a row.
Florida opens its 2010 season at the prestigious Runza/AVCA Showcase played at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. The Gators will face a pair of nationally ranked Big 12 foes in Iowa State (Aug. 28 at 3 p.m. ET) and Nebraska (Aug. 29 at 5:30 p.m. ET) in that tournament.
UF opens its home schedule by playing host to the annual Campus USA Credit Union Invitational in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. The Gators, who are 308-18 (.945) at home since 1991, will play host to Albany (Sept. 3 at 12:30 p.m.), Bowling Green (Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.) and Mountain West Conference foe Colorado State (Sept. 4 at TBA) in that event.
Florida will then play host to the first edition of what is sure to become one of the premier tournaments in collegiate volleyball, the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic on Sept. 10-11. The tournament field includes NCAA perennial powers Stanford, 2010 NCAA runner-up Texas and three-time defending NCAA Champion Penn State. The Gators face the Nittany Lions on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in a re-match of last season's NCAA regional semifinal match. Florida will then face either Stanford or Texas at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday.
UF faces one of its most difficult Southeastern Conference weekends in the league opener, traveling to NCAA Round of 16 participant Kentucky on Sept. 17 and NCAA second-round participant Tennessee on Sept. 19.
The Gators then step out of conference play to venture to Tallahassee, Fla., for the annual showdown with intra-state rival Florida State. UF looks for its 19th consecutive win in the all-time series this season.
Florida then begins a stretch of three consecutive matches at home, playing host to Ole Miss (Sept. 26 at 1:30 p.m.), LSU (Oct. 1 at 7 p.m.) and Arkansas (Oct. 3 at 1:30 p.m.)
The Gators venture west to take on Alabama on Oct. 8 in Tuscaloosa and Mississippi State on Oct. 10 in Starkville. Florida commences a five-match homestand on Oct. 15, highlighted by meetings with Tennessee (Oct. 20) and Kentucky (Oct. 24).
After a three-match road trip at Ole Miss (Oct. 29), Georgia (Nov. 5) and Auburn (Nov. 7), Florida hosts Mississippi State (Nov. 11) and Alabama (Nov. 14) in the final regular-season home matches of the campaign.
The Gators hit the road to meet Arkansas (Nov. 19) and LSU (Nov. 21) before closing the season at South Carolina in a Nov. 26 match.
For the fifth consecutive year, the SEC volleyball schedule will be a double round-robin format in which each team plays the other 10 league schools both home and away in lieu of an SEC Tournament.
Full radio and television schedules for the Florida volleyball team will be released later this summer.
For all of the latest information on Florida Volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/volleyball. Follow the Gators on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorMary.
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