2013 South Alabama Volleyball Schedule (.pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – Four NCAA Tournament participants – Arkansas, Jackson State, Kansas State and Western Kentucky – from a year highlight the 2013 University of South Alabama volleyball schedule announced by head coach Amy Hendrichovsky on Monday.  

The schedule, which features four non-conference tournaments – two of which hosted by teams from the Southeastern Conference – and a midweek road contest also includes 12 home matches, starting off with the Jaguar Invite, Aug. 30-31.

South Alabama will open up the 2013 campaign when it hosts the Jaguar Invite and welcomes Tennessee State on the opening day.  USA will then take on Southern Utah and Georgia Southern on day two of the tournament.  TSU finished with 18 wins a year ago, while GSU won the Southern Conference South Division regular-season title.  The Eagles posted a 25-7 overall record and a 16-1 mark in the SoCon.  Georgia Southern will be under a new coaching staff as Chad Callihan left the program in May to take over at Wyoming.

In week two, the Jaguars open the month of September at the Lipscomb Invite in Nashville, Tenn., where they will face Samford and Jacksonville State on Sept. 6 and the host Bisons on Sept. 7.  Samford posted a 23-9 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the Southern Conference en route to winning the North Division title.  

On week three of the season, USA will stay in-state and travel to Tuscaloosa to compete in a tournament hosted by Alabama.  The Jaguars will take on Tennessee-Martin and Nicholls State on Sept. 13 and then close out with the Crimson Tide – one of two Southeastern Conference foes on the slate this season.  Alabama was 18-14 overall and won 11 of first 12 non-conference matches last season.  The Tide also closed out the season strong by winning four of its last six matches.  It was the Alabama's first winning season since 2008 and the 18 victories were the most for the program seven seasons.

Following its first three tournaments, South Alabama will head to Jackson, Miss., to take on NCAA tournament participant Jackson State – which finished 24-12 and captured both the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles – on Sept. 17 in a midweek match up, before heading to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in its final non-conference event of the season.  USA will take part in the Razorback Invitational on Sept. 20-21 and open with Saint Louis before facing Kansas State out of the Big 12 and tourney host Arkansas.

Kansas State was 21-9 overall and 8-8 in league play during the 2012 season and earned the program's 14th NCAA tournament appearance.  Like Alabama, KSU got off to an outstanding start, winning 16 of its first 17 matches last season.  The Razorbacks (22-10, 13-7 SEC) finished second in the SEC's Western Division behind Texas A&M and also made the NCAA's field of 64.  The 22 wins were the most wins since 2003 season.  UA also brings in the 16th-rated recruiting class according to PrepVolleyball.com.

The second-year Jaguar head coach hopes that the competitive non-conference schedule will help the program continue to build as the season progresses.

"If we aspire to build a championship level program for the postseason we must compete against teams that will challenge us and force us to play at a high level consistently in the preseason," Hendrichovsky said.  "The Arkansas tournament will be a great opportunity for our girls and I'm excited to see them accept the challenge.  Our student-athletes will be ready to compete and will gain the experience we need moving into our conference schedule."  

On the final weekend of September, the Jaguars are scheduled to open the Sun Belt Conference portion of their schedule on Friday, Sept. 27 when they host UALR and Western Kentucky a day later (Sept. 28).  Last season, the Lady Toppers (33-4, 15-0 SBC) captured both the regular season East Division and tournament titles – sweeping a program-best 10-straight conference matches, while only falling in one set throughout conference play and run to the tournament title. WKU also advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament – their seventh trip and third-straight appearance – before falling to then second-ranked Stanford.  The Trojans also had a solid season, tying with North Texas for the West Division crown.

This year's conference slate features 18 conference matches in a round-robin format.  With the departure of Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Florida Atlantic and Florida International, the league welcomes newcomers Georgia State, Texas-Arlington and Texas State.  The 2013 season will also be the final season in the SBC for WKU as the school has announced plans to move into Conference USA next season.

"With the conference changes this past year, I anticipate the battle for the top of the Sun Belt Conference to be another close battle in 2013 as it was in 2012," Hendrichovsky stated.  "The team that has built the chemistry and determination to stay focused on the task at hand each night will be rewarded.  I look forward to leading our team into battle this season."

During the month of October, South Alabama will have home league matches versus Troy (Oct. 2), Georgia State (Oct. 12), Texas State (Oct. 25) and Louisiana-Lafayette (Oct. 27), while also going on the road five times during the month – Arkansas State (Oct. 4), Louisiana-Monroe (Oct. 6), ULL (Oct. 11), Texas-Arlington (Oct. 18) and TSU (Oct. 20).

Both Troy and Arkansas State should be stout test for the Jaguars as Trojans posted 21 overall wins – the first 20-win season since 2002 – and finished second in the division, while the Red Wolves had 19 victories.  The 10 SBC wins by Troy were a school record and the second-most in the league with WKU's 15 the only tally higher.

USA will open up November at home versus the Red Wolves on Nov. 1, before traveling to UALR (Nov. 3) and to Troy (Nov. 6).  South Alabama will then return to Jag Gym for its final two home matches of the season – versus UTA on Nov. 8 and the Warhawks on Nov. 10 – before closing out the regular season on the road at Western Kentucky (Nov. 15) and at Georgia State (Nov. 17).

Troy will also serve as this season's conference tournament host which is scheduled to be held Nov. 21-23 at Trojan Arena in Troy, Ala.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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