TicketsVolleyball Announces 2004 Schedule
Six NCAA Tournament teams on docket
Contact: Shawn Sell
6/14/2004
The 2004 Bearcats will play six NCAA Tournament teams this fall. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio-- A total of six NCAA Tournament teams dot the 2004 schedule for the defending Conference USA Champion University of Cincinnati volleyball team. The highlight of the docket is a Sept. 20 trip to Minnesota to face the national semifinalist Golden Gophers.
In addition to the Minnesota trip, the Bearcats will also face NCAA qualifiers Loyola Marymount (Sept. 11) and Wisconsin (Sept. 18) in the early portion of the season. UC wraps up the regular season with a tough stretch, travelling to Louisville on Nov. 12 and facing Ohio (Nov. 26) and Dayton (Nov. 27) in Fifth Third Arena. All three squads earned berths in the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
?We are playing a very competitive schedule this year,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?We will find out fast where we stand among our competition. The early part of the season will be tough because we go on the road and play some quality teams. It will be a good test for us and hopefully we will end up better than we did last year.?
UC will open the season with four straight home matches, with the first three coming as part of the second annual Bearcat Invitational in Fifth Third Arena on Sept. 3-4. The Bearcats will square off with Bradley in the opener, while also playing host to UMBC and Kent State. Cincinnati wraps up the homestand hosting local rival Miami (OH) on Sept. 7.
In addition to the Bearcat Invitational, UC will also play in pre-conference tournaments at Loyola Marymount and Wisconsin, both of which were top-25 squads a season ago.
The Conference USA season opens on Oct. 1-2 with trips to Marquette and DePaul, respectively. The home portion of the league slate kicks off a week later with UAB and USF coming to town, but both matches will be played at St. Ursula Academy in Cincinnati due to a scheduling conflict in Fifth Third Arena.
The C-USA Tournament will be hosted this year by Louisville and will be held in Cardinal Arena from Nov. 19-22.
The Bearcats finished the 2003 season with a 27-6 record and a share of the C-USA crown. UC advanced to the NCAA Tournament for a fifth consecutive season last year and return eight letterwinners from that squad.