FGCU faces challenging volleyball slate in 2009
Florida Gulf Coast University will play 10 Atlantic Sun Conference volleyball games on its home floor next season as well as journeys to the University of Southern California and Miami for tournaments.
The Eagles’ 2009 volleyball schedule was released Tuesday by coach Dave Nichols.
“I am excited about the teams that we play this (coming) year,” said Nichols. “We have several challenging matches against teams that are top-25 caliber. I am looking forward to working with the team to prepare them for this season.”
The back-to-back A-Sun regular-season champion Eagles open the season at a tournament at Miami. The Eagles then travel to Los Angeles for the Holiday Inn LA City Center Trojan Invitational at USC’s Galen Center, where they will face USC and Northern Arizona. The host Trojans were 17-12 last season. The Eagles then head to Malibu to take on Pepperdine on Sept. 5 for their final game in the Trojan Invitational.
FGCU once again plays a double round-robin conference schedule and, along with North Florida and Kennesaw State, will be eligible for the conference tournament for the first time this season.
Eagles have a season-long five-game homestand beginning on Oct. 8 where two of the top four seeds in the conference tournament from a year ago visit Fort Myers.
FGCU returns two starters from its 2008 league champion roster, including conference All-Freshman selection Holly Youngquist.
The A-Sun Tournament will be played at FGCU’s Alico Arena for the first time in 2009.