Utah State Announces 2005 Volleyball Schedule
Ten teams that participated in the 2004 NCAA Tournament,including the defending national champion, highlight the 2005 Utah Statewomen’s volleyball schedule that was announced on Monday by USU head coachBurt Fuller.
The Aggies will host five NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago,including in-state rival Utah on Sept. 6,defending Sun Belt champion NewMexico State on Sept. 22, and defending Western Athletic Conference championHawai’i on Nov. 9, along with matches against Idaho on Nov. 2 and Nevada onNov. 19 to close out the regular season. In all, USU will play 10 matchesat the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, a venue where the Aggies have gone 46-20over the last six seasons.
Other NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago on the Aggies scheduleinclude Arkansas, Kansas State, St. Mary’s, UC Santa Barbara and defendingnational champion Stanford.
“We play 14 matches against teams who participated in the 2004 NCAATournament and we are excited for the challenge,” said Fuller. “We know theseason is going to be competitive, but that’s how you get better. You haveto play good teams and I feel we have placed ourselves in position to seewhere we are.”
Utah State will open the year at the Tulsa Invitational on Aug. 26-27,as the Aggies will face Fordham, Lamar and the host Golden Hurricane. USUwill then play Arkansas, Nicholls State and Kansas State the followingweekend at a tournament hosted by the University of Arkansas before openingits home season on Tues., Sept. 6 against the University of Utah.
Utah State will then travel to Brigham Young and Weber State beforeplaying UC Santa Barbara, Stanford and St. Mary’s in a tournament hosted byStanford on Sept. 15-17. After playing 11 of its first 12 matches on theroad, USU will then return home to face Idaho State on Mon., Sept. 19 beforeopening league play against New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech on Sept. 22and 24.
The 2005 season will mark the first year of competition for Utah Statein the Western Athletic Conference after spending the past 15 years in theBig West Conference. USU will play 16 conference matches on the year in around-robin format with each school playing each other member institutionboth home and away.
“Our program, players and staff are looking forward to our first seasonin the WAC,” added Fuller. “The WAC has grown to be an outstandingvolleyball conference and with the additions of New Mexico State, Utah Stateand Idaho, I believe it will continue to grow.”
Utah State returns six starters and nine letterwinners from last year’steam that went 9-18 overall and finished in eighth-place in the Big Westwith a 5-13 league record. Among the players returning for USU is seniorfirst-team all-Big West performer Zuzana Cernianska, Carolyn Forbush andAmanda Orgill who were both named to the Big West’s all-freshman team duringthe 2004 season, and Beth Hodge who redshirted last year after being namedto the Big West’s all-freshman team during the 2003 season.
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2005 Utah State Volleyball Schedule
Date Opponent Location TimeAug. 26-27 Tulsa Invitational Tulsa, OklahomaAug. 26 Fordham Tulsa, Oklahoma NoonAug. 26 Lamar Tulsa, Oklahoma 5 p.m.Aug. 27 Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma 7 p.m.Sept. 2-3 Arkansas Tournament Fayetteville, Ark.Sept. 2 Arkansas Fayetteville, Ark. 7 p.m.Sept. 3 Nicholls State Fayetteville, Ark. 2p.m.Sept. 3 Kansas State Fayetteville, Ark.7:30 p.m.Sept. 6 UTAH LOGAN 6 p.m.Sept. 10 Brigham Young Provo, Utah 7 p.m.Sept. 13 Weber State Ogden, Utah 7 p.m.Sept. 15-17 Stanford Invitational Palo Alto, Calif.Sept. 15 UC Santa Barbara Palo Alto, Calif. 5p.m.Sept. 16 Stanford Palo Alto, Calif. 7 p.m.Sept. 17 St. Mary’s Palo Alto, Calif. 7p.m.Sept. 19 IDAHO STATE LOGAN 6 p.m.Sept. 22 *NEW MEXICO STATE LOGAN 7 p.m.Sept. 24 *LOUISIANA TECH LOGAN 2 p.m.Sept. 29 *Boise State Boise, Idaho 7p.m.Oct. 1 *Idaho Moscow, Idaho 7 p.m.Oct. 5 *Fresno State Fresno, Calif. 7p.m.Oct. 8 *SAN JOSE STATE LOGAN 2 p.m.Oct. 10 Utah Valley State Orem, Utah 6 p.m.Oct. 15 *Nevada Reno, Nev. 7 p.m.Oct. 20 *Hawai’i Honolulu, Hawai’i 7 p.m.Oct. 24 *FRESNO STATE LOGAN 7 p.m.Oct. 29 *San Jose State San Jose, Calif. 7 p.m.Nov. 2 *IDAHO LOGAN 7 p.m.Nov. 5 *BOISE STATE LOGAN 7 p.m.Nov. 9 *HAWAI’I LOGAN 7 p.m.Nov. 12 *New Mexico State Las Cruces, N.M. 7p.m.Nov. 14 *Louisiana Tech Ruston, La. 7 p.m.Nov. 19 *NEVADA LOGAN 7 p.m.Nov. 25-27 at WAC Tournament Reno, Nev.
*Denotes Western Athletic Conference Match.Home matches in BOLD CAPS.All times are local time.All times and dates are tentative and subject to change.