MOBILE, Ala. – Four NCAA Tournament participants – Duke, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and Florida International – highlight the 2009 University of South Alabama volleyball schedule released by seventh-year head coach Nicole Keshock Wednesday.
“I’m excited about our non-conference schedule, mainly because I think it is a good mix of everything we could potentially see in the league,” Keshock said. “The thing that I felt missing from our schedule last year were opponents who compared to the top teams in our conference. This year with us scheduling programs like Duke and Georgia, we will be more prepared to face the stronger teams in our league. The top half of our conference is so competitive and on our side alone, we have to face three of those teams twice. It is important for us to see those types of teams during the non-conference season.”
The Jags open the regular season on Aug. 28 when they travel to Ruston, La., to compete in the Techster Invitational – hosted by Louisiana Tech. USA is scheduled to play a pair of matches each day of the two-day tournament, beginning with Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Centenary College on the opening day. The Jags will then close out the tournament on Aug. 29 with matches against Tennessee-Martin and the host Bulldogs.
The month of September begins with perhaps South Alabama’s stiffest competition during the non-conference season as USA will compete in the Georgia Dawg Invitational (Sept. 4-5) in Athens, Ga. Besides the host Bulldogs, South Alabama will also face Tennessee State from the Ohio Valley Conference and 2008 ACC champion and NCAA Tournament participant Duke. The Blue Devils finished with a 25-9 record last season and a share of the league title – the program’s ninth conference crown.
Following the UGA tourney, South Alabama returns to Mobile to host the Jaguar Classic (Sept. 11-12) at Jag Gym. Scheduled to compete in the tournament are Southern Miss, Nicholls State and Jackson State. Both NSU and JSU came to Mobile a season ago.
USA will close out the non-conference portion of its schedule the following week when the Jaguars participate in the Lady Panther Invitational Sept. 18-19. South Alabama had been scheduled to compete in the tournament hosted by Prairie View A&M last season, but due to Hurricane Ike the tournament was cancelled. The rest of this year’s tournament field has yet to be released.
With the non-conference slate complete, South Alabama will begin Sun Belt Conference with a pair of home matches, taking on Florida Atlantic on Sept. 25 and then the defending East Division champs Florida International on Sept. 27. USA will have little time to rest following the match with the Golden Panthers as it will make the quick turnaround and travel to take on in-state rival Troy on the following day.
As in past years, South Alabama will face each team from the East Division twice and teams from the West Division once in SBC play.
The match versus the Trojans will be the first of a three-match road swing. On Oct. 2, the Jaguars will head to Jonesboro, Ark., to face Arkansas State and then close out the trip at UALR in Little Rock, Ark., on Oct. 3. Both the Red Wolves and the Trojans posted 20-win seasons a year ago, finishing with 21 and 24 wins, respectively.
Of the remaining 12 conference matches, USA will hold the home-court advantage in eight of them, including five of the final seven to close out the regular season. Those home matches include dates against Louisiana-Lafayette (Oct. 9), New Orleans (Oct. 10), Louisiana-Monroe (Oct. 11), North Texas (Oct. 23), Denver (Oct. 24), Troy (Nov. 6), Middle Tennessee (Nov. 13) and Western Kentucky (Nov. 14)
South Alabama rounds out the schedule with road matches against FAU (Oct. 16), FIU (Oct. 18), MTSU (Oct. 30) and WKU (Oct. 31). Western Kentucky captured the conference tournament title this past season, while Middle Tennessee had won it the previous two seasons.
The Lady Toppers will also host the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Tournament at E.A. Diddle Arena Nov. 19-21. Last season, South Alabama made its first appearance in the league tournament since the 2001 season.
The Jags return their top three offensive leaders from 2008 – Juliana Almeida, Hristina Markova and Lindsay Schwartz – along with seven other letterwinners from a squad that finished with its second-straight double figure win tally for the first time in sixteen years.
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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