TicketsMay 29, 2014
CINCINNATI - Head coach Molly Alvey and the University of Cincinnati volleyball team unveiled the 2014 schedule on Thursday. The slate features two NCAA participants from 2013 and a handful of new conference foes in the American Athletic Conference.
The schedule features 32 matches, broken into 15 home matches, 13 away matches and four neutral site matches. Additionally, the Bearcats will play a 20-match league schedule split with 10 home matches and 10 away matches with two meetings against each opponent.
"My staff and I are so excited to step into our championship season" said Alvey. "We have grown so much as a team, staff and program over the last semester. I cannot wait to see all of our supporters and alumnae soon. We have high expectations and will stand by those throughout this schedule."
Cincinnati will kick off the season with four regular-season tournaments, including the first ever Queen City Classic hosted by both Cincinnati and Xavier University.
"Our preseason tournaments will be quite competitive for our young team" said Alvey. "Luckily for our fans, we will be playing regionally in three of the four opening weekend tournaments. One of those weekends will include the addition of our new tournament with rival Xavier. This will be an annual tournament that we will continue to host together."
The Queen City Classic will be held Aug. 29 and 30 at both Fifth Third Arena and XU's Cintas Center. The two schools will welcome Duquesne, a 2013 NCAA qualifier, and UC Irvine for a six-game tournament. The Bearcats will play DU at Fifth Third Arena on Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. and will host UCI at noon on Aug. 30. The Bearcats will then play XU across town at the Cintas Center at 6 p.m. on Aug. 30.
UC will spend the next two weekends on the road participating in a pair of regular-season tournaments. First up, the Bearcats will play in Louisville, Kentucky at the Active Ankle Challenge hosted by former conference opponent Louisville. They will face the Cardinals, the 2013 American Athletic Conference champions and NCAA participants, as well as Appalachian State and Tennessee State on Sept. 5 and 6. The meeting with Louisville will mark the first time the teams have faced each other in non-conference action since 1994 when the Bearcats were members of the Great Midwest Conference and the Cardinals were a part of the Metro Conference.
Sept. 12 and 13 will pin Cincinnati in Kingston, Rhode Island at the Art Carmichael Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island. The Bearcats also will face former conference foe Rutgers and the New Jersey Institute of Technology at the invitational.
The final regular-season tournament of the year will be the UC Invitational, held at Fifth Third Arena on Sept. 19 and 20.The Bearcats will host Charleston Southern, Central Michigan and Tennessee State in the final non-conference matches of the year. The UC Invitational also will represent Alumni Weekend for the Bearcats volleyball program.
Play in the American will kick off Sept. 26 at Houston and Sept. 28 at Tulane. The Bearcats will be facing the new conference foe the Green Wave for the first time since 2004.
October opens with two home matches against SMU and Tulsa on Oct. 3 and Oct. 5, respectively. The meeting against the Hurricanes will represent just the second matchup in program history between the two teams.
The next two weekends will feature matches at Temple (Oct. 10) and UConn (Oct. 12) and home contests against USF (Oct. 17) and UCF (Oct. 19). Cincinnati will host its travel partner, Memphis, on Oct. 22 before traveling to new conference opponent East Carolina to close out the first round of conference play.
UC will host UConn for a Halloween match on Fri., Oct. 31, before welcoming the Owls of Temple on Nov. 1. The Bearcats will make a return trip to Tulsa (Nov. 7) and SMU (Nov. 9) and will host Tulane (Nov. 14) and Houston (Nov. 16). A midweek match at Memphis on Nov. 19 will setup the final home match in Fifth Third Arena against ECU on Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. The game will be senior day for the Bearcats.
The final weekend of the regular season will be played in the Sunshine State when Cincinnati takes on UCF on Nov. 26 and USF on Nov. 28.
Cincinnati will again feature a young roster but will be anchored by a trio of senior leaders, including Madi Lang (Commerce Township, Mich./Florida Atlantic), Jamie Netisingha (Westmont, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff).
Season tickets for the 2014 season are just $20 for adults and $10 for youth/seniors/UCATS members. To purchase, click here.
For information on how to support the UC volleyball program and how to join the VolleyCats Club, please click here.
-GoBEARCATS.com-