Bulldogs Set 2010 Volleyball Schedule
- 2010 Mississippi State Volleyball Schedule
STARKVILLE, Miss. - A 14-match home schedule and the season-opening five-team Mississippi State Maroon Classic highlight a 31-match 2010 volleyball schedule announced this week by second-year Mississippi State University volleyball coach Jenny Hazelwood.
The Bulldogs open their 36th season of volleyball August 27-28 hosting Arkansas-Little Rock, Austin Peay, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Montana in the two-day round-robin Mississippi State Maroon Classic. It's the first of three early-season non-conference tournaments for the Bulldogs in 2010. State travels to Arlington, Texas, Sept. 3-4 for competition in the UT Arlington Hilton Invitational and visits Carbondale, Ill., Sept. 10-11 for Southern Illinois University's 31st annual Saluki Invitational.
"We are excited about our 2010 schedule," said Hazelwood. "With four teams that played in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, our conference schedule is as rugged as ever. And our non-conference schedule includes a good variety of teams and styles and will present more challenges than before. It's also great to be opening the 2010 schedule at home with the Maroon Classic."
Mississippi State visits Southern Miss September 15 in the Bulldogs' final non-conference competition of the 2010 campaign before opening a 20-match double round robin SEC schedule Sept. 19 at Ole Miss.
In addition to its four matches in the Maroon Classic, Mississippi State entertains league foes Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee.
MSU home match times are set for 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. both days in the Maroon Classic and either 7 p.m. or 1:30 p.m. for Southeastern Conference matches at the Newell-Grissom Building. To accommodate a scheduling conflict on the road, MSU's road weekend matches at Florida and South Carolina will be played on Thursday (Nov. 11) and Saturday Nov. 13). State's regular season finale Nov. 24 at Alabama will feature a 4 p.m. first serve.
The Bulldogs return four starters and the libero from the 2009 edition that won three of its final four SEC matches and finished with a 9-22 worksheet.