April 24, 2009

2009 Schedule

15 home matches, including nine of 12 in October, highlight the 2009 Wright State volleyball schedule, which was released Friday.

The Raiders, under fifth-year head coach Trina Smith, will start the campaign by facing East Carolina on Friday, August 28, at the VCU Tournament in Richmond, Virginia. WSU will also take on the host Rams and Temple in the tournament.

Wright State then competes in the Oakland Tournament before opening the home portion of its schedule with the Raider Challenge September 11-12. Evansville, Kent State and St. Peter's make up the field for the two-day, six-match tournament.

WSU begins Horizon League play at Cleveland State on September 15 before participating in its fourth tournament of the season September 18-19 at West Virginia. It is the first time the Raiders have competed in four regular-season tournaments since 2006.

The remainder of the regular season schedule features 16 Horizon League matches along with midweek home matchups against area teams in IPFW (September 29), Xavier (October 20), Cincinnati (October 27) and Dayton (November 11). Starting with the IPFW match, 12 of the final 17 matches during the regular season will be at the C.J. McLin Gymnasium, including a seven-match homestand in October.

"We are excited to have a competitive and challenging schedule for the 2009 season," said Smith.

In all, 32 regular-season matches appear on the slate in 2009, the most for WSU since playing 35 such contests in 1989, and the 15 home matches are the most since 1995, when the Raiders hosted 16. 12 of the 24 opponents posted records of .500 or better in 2008.