BATON ROUGE — The LSU volleyball program faces a challenging schedule in 2009, highlighted by 12 matches against 2008 NCAA Tournament teams head coach Fran Flory announced Thursday.
The Tigers open the season against national runner-up Stanford (Aug. 28) followed by matches against Denver (Aug. 29) and host Notre Dame (Aug. 30) at the Shamrock Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
LSU returns home and takes on its second NCAA national semifinal squad from a season ago as Nebraska (Sept. 4) along with Louisiana-Lafayette (Sept. 5) and Tulane (Sept. 5) visit the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for the Tiger Classic.
Before entering conference play, the Tigers square off with NCAA Tournament participants Tulane (Sept. 11) and Long Beach State (Sept. 12) in addition to New Orleans (Sept. 12) at the AllState Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans.
“There’s no doubt this is one of our toughest schedules,” Flory said. “We feel like we have a very balanced and veteran team that will be up for the challenge.”
For the fourth consecutive season, LSU will play a home-and-home series with each Southeastern Conference team in lieu of a league tournament. The Tigers welcome NCAA Tournament participants Tennessee (Sept. 18) and Kentucky (Sept. 20) on the opening weekend of league play.
Defending SEC champion Florida (Oct. 11) visits the PMAC as part of four-match home stand that features South Carolina (Oct. 9), Arkansas (Oct. 16), Ole Miss (Oct. 18),
The four-time defending SEC Western Division champions also play host to Georgia (Oct. 30), Auburn (Nov. 1) Mississippi State (Nov. 20) and Alabama (Nov. 22) before concluding the regular season at NCAA Tournament participant Rice (Nov. 27).
“The SEC continues to get better and better,” Flory said. “There are a lot of teams who were young last season that bring back a lot of talented players. The league is as wide open as it’s ever been from top to bottom, and it’s going to be challenge every time we step on the court.”
LSU is coming off its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance under Flory. Seven of the Tigers eight returning letterwinners for the 2009 season saw action in at least 20 matches last season.