Challenging Slate Awaits Cajuns Volleyball
University of Louisiana head volleyball coach Heather Mazeitis unveiled the program's 2011 schedule on Thursday.
The season begins at the LSU Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge where the Cajuns will face 2010 NCAA Tournament participants LSU and Miami. The Cajuns host a tournament at Earl K. Long Gym over Labor Day weekend, marking the first of 14 home matches for the squad in 2011.
"We face good competition at LSU to begin the season plus the CenturyLink Premier Tournament hosted by Texas State will be a good test for us as New Mexico State was a late addition," Mazeitis said. "The Sun Belt Conference wants each school to increase their RPI and the only way to do that is by scheduling tougher competition."
Mazeitis and the Ragin' Cajuns travel east on Interstate 10 to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge to kick off her fourth season at the helm on Friday, Aug. 26. In addition to LSU and Miami, the Cajuns are matched up against Jacksonville State and Alcorn State in the Tiger Classic.
The following weekend the Cajuns welcome Mississippi Valley State, Nicholls State and Texas Southern for the Bon Temps Invitational at Earl K. Long Gym Sept. 2-3 (Labor Day Weekend).
Following a midweek home match with Lamar (Sept. 6), Louisiana makes the first of two trips to Texas for tournament play Sept. 9-10 to compete in the CenturyLink Premier in San Marcos, Texas. While in San Marcos, the Cajuns will face off with former Sun Belt Conference foe New Mexico State.
A home match with Southern on Tuesday, Sept. 13 precedes the squad's second trip to Texas which takes the Cajuns to the UT Arlington Invitational (Sept. 16-17).
UL closes out non-conference action on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at Southeastern Louisiana, then heads to Alabama to start Sun Belt Conference play at South Alabama (Sept. 23) and Troy (Sept. 25).
In SBC play, Louisiana hosts nine of the 16 matches in the friendly confines of Earl K. Long Gym where the squad went 10-2 a year ago.
The first home SBC match of 2011 takes place Tuesday, Sept. 27 vs. La.-Monroe. Later that week, UL welcomes Denver (Sept. 30) and North Texas (Oct. 2) to E.K. Long.
Five of the next seven Sun Belt matches are on the road, but Louisiana gets to play the final four league matches at E.K. Long.
The season-ending, four-match homestand features matches with Florida Atlantic and FIU the weekend of Nov. 4-6, then Arkansas State (Nov. 11) and UALR (Nov. 13) the following weekend.
The 2011 Sun Belt Conference Tournament is being held Nov. 17-19 at U.S. Century Bank Arena on the campus of Florida International University in Miami.
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