Sherry Dunbar Announces 2011 Schedule for IU Volleyball
March 2, 2011
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana Volleyball rose to new heights in 2010, advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The Hoosiers will look to build on that with a challenging schedule in 2011.
Head Coach Sherry Dunbar has announced the 2011 schedule for her team, and it features two non-conference tournaments to be played in University Gym, as well as 10 home matches in the Big Ten slate.
Dunbar is excited to play more matches at home in 2011 and is looking forward to the always-strong Big Ten adding another good team in Nebraska.
"It is really nice to host two tournaments after having such a great home record last year, " Dunbar said. "We're excited to play 16 matches in Bloomington this year, as our home crowds have been fantastic and give us a definite home-court advantage. The first weekend, we're going to play at Virginia Tech, which will be a very competitive ACC team and a good tournament. We are going all the way out on the West Coast, where we'll play the University of San Diego. Whitney Granado is from that area and we really wanted to get out to the West Coast.
"Our Big Ten schedule will be that much tougher this year with Nebraska in the mix. We call it an enjoyable challenge. It is a great conference already, and adding them makes it even better."
The Hoosiers start the season at the Hokie Classic on August 26-27 in Blacksburg, Va. The Hoosiers then return home for two home tournaments. The tournaments will be played at U-Gym on consecutive weekends, the IU/adidas Classic taking place on September 2-3 and the second tournament taking place on September 9-10. The Hoosiers wrap-up the non-conference slate at the USD Tournament in San Diego, Calif., on September 16-17.
The Big Ten season starts with the Hoosiers hosting Michigan and Michigan State on September 23 and 24. The Hoosiers then take a four-game road trip, playing two weekends at Illinois and Northwestern and then Iowa and Nebraska. IU returns home for matches against Ohio State and Penn State on October 14 and 15. Next up is a trip to West Lafayette for an October 19 showdown with Purdue, and then on to Madison where the Badgers will be waiting.
Michigan State and Michigan will host the Hoosiers on October 26 and 29, and then the month of November sees the Hoosiers finish the season with five of eight matches at home. Northwestern and Illinois come to U-Gym on November 4 and 5. Nebraska and Iowa come to town on the 11th and 12th. Penn State and Ohio State will host IU on the 18th and 19th before the Boilers visit B-Town on the 23rd. The regular season comes to a close on November 26th, when the Hoosiers play at Minnesota.
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