CSUN Announces 2016 Women's Volleyball Schedule
5/16/2016 11:38:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
NORTHRIDGE, CA - CSUN head women's volleyball coach Jeff Stork has announced the Matadors' 2016 schedule. CSUN will open a challenging 2016 campaign Aug. 26 against Lipscomb at the Pepperdine Asics Classic in Malibu.
The Matadors' 28 match regular season schedule includes four tournaments prior to the Big West opener against UC Irvine on Sept. 22. The 12 teams on CSUN's non-conference schedule finished a combined 234-127 (.648) in 2015 and two teams (BYU, Lipscomb) reached the NCAA Tournament. In addition to traveling across the Valley to Malibu, the Matadors will head to Las Vegas (UNLV Invitational), Laramie, WY (UniWyo Invitational) and Provo, Utah (BYU Classic) in non-conference play.
CSUN and Lipscomb also met in Salt Lake City to open the 2015 season with the Bisons winning in five sets. The Matadors will also take on Rhode Island and the host Waves at the Pepperdine Asics Classic (Aug. 26-27).
September opens in Las Vegas as CSUN opposes Hofstra, Sacramento State and the host Rebels at the UNLV Invitational (Sept. 2-3). The Matadors travel further east the following weekend (Sept. 9-10) as CSUN takes on Eastern Washington, Wyoming and Samford at the UniWyo Invitational in Laramie. The Matadors close the non-conference portion of the schedule Sept. 16-17 at the BYU Classic against the host Cougars, UNLV and Utah Valley. Â
"We believe our 2016 schedule has both a strong RPI and is tough in terms of strength of schedule," said Stork. "We certainly have to do well in the non-conference portion of the schedule to elevate our RPI, which needs to be elevated. Last year was somewhat of a rebuilding year for us and we feel that with the experienced players coming back and the new players coming in that we'll have more success in the non-conference season than we did last season."
CSUN will open Big West play on the road at UC Irvine (Sept. 22) and UC Davis (Sept. 24) before opening the home schedule Sept. 30 against UC Santa Barbara. The 2016 home schedule also Big West rivals, Cal Poly (Oct. 1), Hawai'i (Oct. 6), UC Davis (Oct. 28), UC Irvine (Oct. 29), UC Riverside (Nov. 1), Long Beach State (Nov. 11) and Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 19).
"The Big West is a difficult conference, my hope heading in the fall is that we can finish in the top three," added Stork. "If we can have a very good non-conference season and do well within the conference, we're obviously hoping to win the Big West but at the very least get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament."
2016 CSUN WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
AUGUST
26   Fri.   vs. Lipscomb   Malibu, CA   10:00 a.m.
26   Fri.   vs. Rhode Island   Malibu, CA   5:00 p.m.
27   Sat.   @ Pepperdine   Malibu, CA   4:30 p.m.
SEPTEMBER
2   Fri.   vs. Hofstra   Las Vegas, NV   12:00 p.m.
2   Fri.   vs. Sacramento State   Las Vegas, NV   5:00 p.m.
3   Sat.   @ UNLV   Las Vegas, NV   2:00 p.m.
9   Fri.   vs. Eastern Washington   Laramie, WY   4:00 p.m.
10   Sat.   @ Wyoming   Laramie, WY   12:00 p.m.
10   Sat.   vs. Samford   Laramie, WY   5:00 p.m.
16   Fri.   @ BYU   Provo, Utah   7:00 p.m.
17   Sat.   vs. UNLV   Orem, Utah   12:00 p.m.
17   Sat.   @ Utah Valley   Orem, Utah   7:00 p.m.
22   Thu.   @ UC Irvine   Irvine, CA   7:00 p.m.
24   Sat.   @ UC Davis   Davis, CA   7:00 p.m.
30   Fri.   vs. UC Santa Barbara   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
OCTOBER
1   Sat.   vs. Cal Poly   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
6   Thu.   vs. Hawai'i   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
15   Sat.   @ Long Beach State   Long Beach, CA   7:00 p.m.
21   Fri.   @ Cal Poly   San Luis Obispo, CA   7:00 p.m.
22   Sat.   @ UC Santa Barbara   Santa Barbara, CA   7:00 p.m.
28   Fri.   vs. UC Davis   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
29   Sat.   vs. UC Irvine   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
NOVEMBER
1   Tue.   vs. UC Riverside   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
5   Sat.   @ Hawai'i   Honolulu, Hawai'i   7:00 p.m. HT
8   Tue.   @ Cal State Fullerton   Fullerton, CA   7:00 p.m.
11   Fri.   vs. Long Beach State   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
18   Fri.   @ UC Riverside   Riverside, CA   7:00 p.m.
19   Sat.   vs. Cal State Fullerton   Northridge, CA   7:00 p.m.
DECEMBER
1-3   Thu.-Sat.   NCAA First & Second Rounds   Campus Sites   TBA
9-10   Fri.-Sat.   NCAA Regionals   TBA   TBA
15-17   Thu.-Sat.   NCAA Finals   Columbus, Ohio   TBA
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