Utah State Volleyball Announces 2008 Schedule
Utah State’s head volleyball coach Grayson DuBose announced Tuesday its 2008 schedule as the Aggies will play a total of 27 matches during the regular season, including seven against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago.
Of those seven match-ups against tournament teams from a year ago, two will be at home as the Aggies host New Mexico State on Oct. 4 and defending Western Athletic Conference champion Hawai’i on Oct. 16. In all, Utah State will play 10 matches at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, a venue where it has gone 68-28 (.708) over the last nine seasons. Other NCAA Tournament teams on the schedule include BYU, Missouri and Purdue.
“I am looking forward to this schedule because we will play a lot of good teams that will prepare us for the great competition that we will face when we start league play,” said DuBose, who is the reigning WAC Coach of the Year. “Last season we played a tough non-conference schedule and it paid dividends as we progressed through WAC play, and I feel like our schedule this year can be beneficial as well.”
Utah State will begin the 2008 season by playing nine of its first 10 matches away from home, including its season opener at in-state rival Brigham Young on Aug. 29. USU will also face Missouri and Tulane that weekend in tournament action The Aggies will then begin its home season on Sept. 2 against in-state rival Weber State before returning to the road for back-to-back tournaments at San Francisco and Utah. During those two weeks, USU will face Texas-Arlington, UC Santa Barbara and USF the first weekend, and Purdue, Saint Louis and the Utes the following weekend.
Utah State will return home and host Utah Valley on Sept. 16 before beginning WAC play that weekend at San Jose State on Sept. 20. USU will then play four straight conference matches at home against Fresno State and Nevada during the last weekend in September and versus Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State in the first weekend of October. Following its four-match home stretch, USU will play seven of its final 11 league matchups on the road, which includes a season-ending road trip to New Mexico State on Nov. 13 and Louisiana Tech on Nov. 15. USU’s home finale will be on Nov. 6 against SJSU.
The 2008 WAC Tournament will be held in Honolulu, Hawai’i, this year as the first two days of competition will be on Nov. 20-21, while the championship game will be played on Nov. 23. The first and second rounds ofthe NCAA Tournament will be held during the first weekend in December.
Utah State returns five starters and 10 letterwinners from last year’steam that went 17-13 overall and finished in third-place in the WAC with an11-5 league record. Among those returning for USU is senior outside hitterMelissa Osterloh and junior middle blocker Danielle Taylor who both earnedsecond-team all-WAC honors a year ago, while sophomore setter Chelsea Fowleswas named the WAC’s Freshman of the Year in 2007.
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2008 UTAH STATE VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent TimeAug. 29-30 at BYU Molten ClassicAug. 29 at Brigham Young 7 p.m.Aug. 30 vs. Missouri 12 p.m.Aug. 30 vs. Tulane 5 p.m.
Sept. 2 WEBER STATE 7 p.m.Sept. 5-6 at San Francisco TournamentSept. 5 vs. Texas Arlington 5:30 p.m.Sept. 6 vs. UC Santa Barbara 2 p.m.Sept. 6 at San Francisco 8 p.m.
Sept. 12-13 at Utah ClassicSept. 12 at Utah 7 p.m.Sept. 13 vs. Purdue 12 p.m.Sept. 13 vs. Saint Louis 5 p.m.Sept. 16 UTAH VALLEY 7 p.m.Sept. 20 at San Jose State* 8 p.m.Sept. 25 FRESNO STATE* 7 p.m.Sept. 27 NEVADA* 7 p.m.
Oct. 2 LOUISIANA TECH* 7 p.m.Oct. 4 NEW MEXICO STATE* 7 p.m.Oct. 9 at Idaho* 8 p.m.Oct. 11 at Boise State* 7 p.m.Oct. 16 HAWAI¹I* 7 p.m.Oct. 18 at Fresno State* 8 p.m.Oct. 23 BOISE STATE* 7 p.m.Oct. 25 at Nevada* 8 p.m.Oct. 30 IDAHO* 7 p.m.
Nov. 1 at Hawai¹i* 10 p.m.Nov. 6 SAN JOSE STATE* 7 p.m.Nov. 13 at New Mexico State* 7 p.m.Nov. 15 at Louisiana Tech* 6 p.m.Nov. 20-21, 23 at WAC Tournament (Honolulu, Hawai¹i)
*Denotes Western Athletic Conference Match.Home matches in BOLD CAPS.All times are Mountain time.All times and dates are tentative and subject to change.