April 29, 2008

2008 Ohio Volleyball Schedule

ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio first year Head Volleyball Coach Ryan Theis and the Ohio Bobcats have released their 2008 schedule. The slate will be one of the most competitive in school history, as the five-time defending Mid-American Conference Champion Bobcats will take the court against seven NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, including a date with reigning NCAA National Champion Penn State.

"We are looking forward to the challenge of playing a schedule loaded with top talent and competition," said Theis.

The non-conference schedule includes dates against six teams ranked in the top 30 of the final AVCA Coaches Poll of 2007 (No. 1 Penn State, No. 7 UCLA, No. 15 Middle Tennessee State, No. 18 Hawaii, No. 24 Dayton, No. 30 Tulane). Of the 12 non-conference opponents Ohio will face, nine posted at least 21 wins a season ago and Penn State (34-2), Dayton (33-2), and Middle Tennessee St. (35-3) finished No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 in all of Division I in overall winning percentage. The non-conference teams combined for a .711 winning percentage last season, an average record of 24-10, and that's including Eastern Kentucky's 5-25 record.

"The schedule will be extremely challenging," explained Theis. "We're going to face four teams from last year's Sweet 16 and be playing in preseason tournaments that should help us prepare for our conference season."

Ohio kicks off its season at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii (Aug. 29-31), where the Bobcats will be joined by 2007 NCAA National Champion Penn State, UCLA and host Hawaii. The Nittany Lions (2), Bruins (3) and Rainbow Wahine (3) combine for eight national championships and nine national runner-up finishes. The `Cats open the three-day tournament against UCLA, which last year reached the NCAA Regional Finals for the fourth time in five seasons. The Bobcats will then play Hawaii, which made its 15th-straight appearance in the NCAA Championships last year, before taking on reigning national champion Penn State in the final day of the tournament.

"It means a great deal to this program to be selected to participate in Hawaii's preseason event," said Theis. "This program has worked really hard and gained the national recognition worthy of competing in such a high profile tournament. Playing in front of 10,000 fans will be a great experience for the team."

Following the trip to Hawaii, Ohio will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa., and Syracuse, N.Y., for tournaments. In a round robin tournament in Pittsburgh, the Bobcats will take on Binghamton (Sept. 5), Eastern Kentucky (Sept. 5) and host Pittsburgh (Sept. 6). The Bobcats then travel to Syracuse, where they will face three-time defending MAAC Champion Siena (Sept. 12), Army (Sept. 13) and Syracuse (Sept. 13).

On Sept. 18-19, Ohio will play host to its own tournament when it welcomes Middle Tennessee State and Tulane to the Convocation Center. Ohio will open the two-day tournament against Middle Tennessee State, which is coming off a 35-3 season and its first ever appearance in the NCAA Sweet 16. Ohio will then play Tulane, which finished 28-6 last year and narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament.

The Bobcats begin Mid-American Conference play at home at the Convocation Center against Akron (Sept. 26) and Buffalo (Sept. 27) before traveling to Bowling Green (Oct. 3) and rival Miami (Oct. 5). Home dates against Miami (Nov. 7) and Bowling Green (Nov. 8) highlight the home-conference schedule.

Following the MAC Tournament (Nov. 21-23), the Bobcats will play the final home match of the season against 2007 Atlantic-10 Conference Champion, Dayton (Nov. 28).

Over the last five seasons Ohio has won five-straight MAC Regular Season Championships and four out of five MAC Tournament titles. During that five year span the Bobcats are 92-3 against MAC opponents, including a 14-1 mark in the conference tournament. The Bobcats will be looking to advance to their sixth-straight NCAA Tournament, after hosting the First and Second Rounds last year as an at-large selection.

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Wes Liles is the volleyball contact in the Ohio media relations office. He can be reached via email at liles@ohio.edu.