UNCG volleyball announces 2007 schedule

GREENSBORO, NC – UNC Greensboro women’s volleyball coach Shawn Garus announced his 2007 schedule on Friday, which features 14 home matches, including the return of a home invitational tournament.

The Spartans will open the season with that home invitational tournament, which they will co-host with neighboring High Point University. UNCG will face Radford and UNC Wilmington on Friday in two of the four matches that will be played at Fleming Gym. The Spartans will also face Austin Peay and cross-city rival North Carolina A&T in matches on Saturday.

UNCG will also play in tournaments at Duquesne and Charlotte before returning home to face Winston-Salem State. The Spartans will open the Southern Conference season with three consecutive road matches, beginning with a September 15 date at Georgia Southern.

“I am pleased with our schedule for 2007,” said Garus, who will enter his third season at UNCG. “ We tasted a bit of success last season with our great run through the tournament and into the SoCon championship match.  With our schedule this season, I feel we can build off of that success. We have a solid core of returning players along with five incoming players who are ready to contribute immediately.  Our non-conference schedule should prepare us for the SoCon regular season and allow us to be at our best in November.”

UNCG returns nine players from last year’s squad, which enjoyed one of its best seasons in 2006. The Spartans closed out the season with a 23-13 record, their best record since a 24-4 mark in 1995. It was also the first time since 1995 that the Spartans had advanced to a conference tournament’s title match, last earning a trip to the Big South title match but losing to UMBC. The Spartans lost the SoCon title match to College of Charleston last season. UNCG had not won a SoCon Tournament match in its 10-year history prior to last season. However, the Spartans swept the Citadel in the opening round and then upset second-seeded Furman and third-seeded Appalachian State, teams they had not beaten in the last six seasons, to gain a spot in the championship match.

AGATE

2007 UNCG Volleyball Schedule: Aug. 24 Radford, 2:30 pm (UNCG Invitational); Aug. 24 UNC Wilmington, 7:30 pm (UNCG Invitational); Aug. 25 Austin Peay. 1:30 pm (UNCG Invitational); Aug. 25  North Carolina A&T, 7 pm (UNCG Invitational);  Aug. 28 at East Carolina, 7 pm; Aug. 31 vs. Youngstown State, 4 pm (Duquesne Tournament); Sept. 1 vs. Duquesne, 11 am (Duquesne Tournament); Sept. 1 vs. Bucknell 4 pm (Duquesne Tournament); Sept. 5 at High Point, 7 pm; Sept. 7  vs. Morgan State, 4:30 pm (Charlotte Tournament); Sept. 8 vs. Coastal Carolina, 10 am; Sept. 8 at Charlotte, 7 pm (Charlotte Tournament); Sept. 11 Winston-Salem State, 7 pm; Sept. 15 at Georgia Southern, 2 pm; Sept. 18 at North Carolina A&T, 6 pm; Sept. 21 at The Citadel, 7 pm; Sept. 22 at College of Charleston, 2 pm; Sept. 28 Wofford, 7 pm; Sept. 29 Furman, 7 pm; Oct. 2 *Elon, 7 pm; Oct. 6 Appalachian State, 2 pm Oct. 7 Davidson, 12 noon; Oct. 13 at Chattanooga, 2 pm; Oct. 14 at Western Carolina, 2 pm; Oct. 19 The Citadel, 7 pm; Oct. 20 College of Charleston, 2 pm; Oct. 27 at Furman, 12 noon; Oct. 28 at Wofford, 2 pm; Nov. 3 at Applachian State, 2 pm; Nov. 4 at Davidson, 2 pm;  Nov. 10 Chattanooga, 2 pm; Nov. 11 Western Carolina, 2 pm; Nov. 16-18 at SoCon Tournament (at Chattanooga), TBA

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