BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The LSU volleyball team will be featured on television four times during the 2012 season highlighted by a program-record three occasions on ESPNU’s national audience as announced Wednesday by the SEC office.
The three ESPNU matches will be a part of the network’s Wednesday Night Volleyball package. The Tigers have made four appearances over the last three seasons on the worldwide leader since the historic SEC on ESPN television agreement reached prior to the 2009 season.
As a result, LSU’s matches against Georgia and Tennessee have been moved from their original Friday dates to Wednesday, October 3 and October 10, respectively, to accommodate the network. The Georgia match has been moved up to a 6 p.m. first serve, while the Tennessee match will keep its original 7 p.m. start time. The regular season home finale versus Arkansas on Wednesday, November 21 has been pushed back to an 8 p.m. start time.
“We’re very excited for our program and our fans that we’ll have the opportunity to welcome ESPNU to the Maravich Center for three home matches,” head coach Fran Flory said. “They do a terrific job of covering SEC volleyball, and we’re thrilled to showcase what our program is all about to a national audience.”
Launched in 2005, ESPNU is a 24-hour college sports television network that airs more than 650 live events annually and offers over 600 original studio shows. The network, now in over 73 million homes, has long-term carriage agreements with all 10 of the top multichannel TV providers – Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox (Channel 243/1243 in HD), DirecTV (Channel 208), DISH Network (Channel 141), Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T U-verse (Channel 605/1605 in HD).
Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) will pick up LSU’s match versus Mississippi State on Sunday, October 28 as part of the SEC’s regional television agreement. First serve will stay at 1 p.m. and will be carried on Cox Sports Television (CST) in Louisiana. All matches carried by ESPNU and CSS/CST also will be available on WatchESPN app and ESPN3.com online.
LSU’s remaining television schedule with CST will be released at a later date. The Tigers head into the 2012 campaign as one of only 25 programs nationally to qualify for six of the last seven NCAA Tournaments going back to the 2005 season.
LSU will hold its annual Purple & Gold Scrimmage on Saturday, August 18 at 4:30 p.m. inside the Maravich Center. Admission to the scrimmage and all 2012 home matches at the Maravich Center are free compliments of the Advocate’s “Geaux Free” program.
Leading into the scrimmage, the defending seven-time SEC Western Division champions will instruct basic volleyball skills starting at 2 p.m. during a free kid’s clinic. The clinic is open to all children eighth grade and under. To reserve your spot, contact Lauren at promotions@lsu.edu by Wednesday, August 15 and include how many children will be attending the event.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger volleyball, visit http://www.lsusports.net/volleyball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsuvolleyball along with @lsuvolleyball and @lsucoachfran on Twitter.
Below is the complete SEC volleyball television schedule.
Date, Match, Time, Network (All times are Central)
September 12, Tennessee at Missouri, 7 p.m., ESPNU
September 26, Tennessee at Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPNU
October 3, Georgia at LSU, 6 p.m., ESPNU
October 5, South Carolina at Texas A&M, 8:30 p.m., SportSouth
October 7, Mississippi State at Texas A&M, 3 p.m., SportSouth
October 10, Tennessee at LSU, 7 p.m., ESPNU
October 14, Mississippi State at Missouri, 12 p.m., ESPNU
October 19, Missouri at Ole Miss, 7:30 p.m., SportSouth/FSN
October 21, Florida at Texas A&M, 12 p.m., ESPNU
October 21, South Carolina at Ole Miss, 1 p.m., CSS/CST
October 24, Missouri at Georgia, 6 p.m., ESPNU
October 28, Alabama at Tennessee, 12 p.m., SportSouth
October 28, Mississippi State at LSU, 1 p.m., CSS/CST
November 4, Tennessee at Florida, 1 p.m., CSS/CST
November 11, Kentucky at Arkansas, 12 p.m., SportSouth
November 18, Auburn at Alabama, 1 p.m., CSS/CST
November 21, Arkansas at LSU, 8 p.m., ESPNU